Free Speech and the Specter of Syndicalism Ex parte McDermott – California, 1919 (183 P. 437); People v. Steelik – California, 1921 (203 P. 78); State v. Diamond – New Mexico, 1921 (202 P. 988); In re Campbell – California, 1923 (221 P. 952)
“While it is true that … [the IWW] stood for a paradoxical and singularly drastic notion of what a system for the government of the peoples of the earth should be – a notion which there is every reason to believe is far beyond any hope of practical attainment – we cannot say that the mere teaching or advocacy of that system is beyond the pale of the constitutional right … guaranteed to all citizens … to advocate any change in our system of government or any principles antagonistic to our present system of government by peaceable methods.” - Justice _, in Campbell
A Christian State
Church v. Bullock – Texas, 1908 (109 S.W. 115)
“Christianity
is so interwoven with the web and woof of the state government that to
sustain the contention that the Constitution prohibits reading the
Bible, offering prayers, or singing songs of a religious character in
any public building of the government would produce a condition
bordering upon moral anarchy … It does not
follow that one or more individuals have the right to have the courts
deny the people the privilege of having their children instructed in the
moral truths of the Bible because such objectors do not desire that
their own children shall be participants therein. This would be to
starve the moral and spiritual natures of the many out of deference to
the few.” – Justice _, in Church | ![]() Los Angeles Times building after bombing (1910) - courtesy University of Southern California and Wikimedia Commons “The right of free speech does not include the right to advocate the destruction or overthrow of the government or the criminal destruction of prop.” “The Legislature has power to punish propaganda which has for its purpose the destruction of government or the rights of prop which the government was formed to preserve.” – Justice _, in Steelik
“[New Mexico’s syndicalism law] was designed to close the mouths and the hands of people who were dissatisfied with the government as at present constituted, and who advocated by any means, peaceful or otherwise, change in the form of government, or the abandonment of organized government entirely.” – Justice _, in Diamond
![]() First Baptist Church, Houston, Texas (ca. 1920) - courtesy Wikimedia Commons
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