# Debs v. United States **Debs v. United States**, 249 U.S. 211 (decided March 10, 1919), is the unanimous Supreme Court decision, written by [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr]], that upheld [[Eugene V. Debs]]'s ten-year sentence under the [[Espionage Act of 1917]], as amended by the 1918 Sedition Act, for his June 16, 1918 antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio. Holmes called the case essentially the same as Schenck v. United States, decided a week earlier, and held that the speech's intent and effect of obstructing recruitment put it outside First Amendment protection. ## See Also - [[Eugene V. Debs]] · [[Espionage Act]] · [[Red Scare]] · [[First Amendment]] · [[World War I]]