Whitney v. California

In Whitney v. California (1927), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld restrictions on free speech and association. During the early 20th century, the court struggled to define the constitutional limits of free speech. The court developed two competing tests for the constitutionality of government restrictions on speech. In Patterson v. Colorado (1907), the court established the “bad tendency” test. Under this test, the state did not have to prove that any illegal action resulted from the speech but merely demonstrate that the speech might have a tendency to cause illegal ...