Assignment 9- The Judiciary

Shylene Mejia

Class: POL 166

Professor: Barry Murdaco

Lehman College

Assignment 9- The Judiciary

      The assigned reading for the week of 11/21/15 were 1803’s Marbury v. Madison, 1906’s Swift & Co v. United States (U.S.), 1919’s Schenck v. U.S. , 1954’s Brown v. Board of Ed. , 1967’s Loving v. Virginia, 1973’s Roe v. Wade, 1976’s Buckleyv. Valeo, and 2005’s Gonzalez v. Raich. In this discussion, I will discuss Schenck v. U.S. as presented in oyez.org, oyez.org write the “facts of the case” are:

“During World War I, Schenck mailed circulars to draftees. The circulars suggested that the draft was a monstrous wrong motivated by the capitalist system. The circulars urged "Do not submit to intimidation" but advised only peaceful action such as petitioning to repeal the Conscription Act. Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment.”

       I humbly disagree with the conclusion of the case. As a citizen in a democratic country one would think our freedom of speech is protected, but the reality is that it is not if it goes against the current political campaign. As it is portrayed in this court ruling, Schenck was simply informing fellow citizens of their options to refuse and peacefully argue back for their rights. It is evident from this court ruling that our opinions and actions are controlled, and a person’s honor and respect could be questioned. The minority or majority opinion will get little air time if is different from the narrative the political agenda coming from Washington D.C. has outlined. 

      

       I choose this passage because I think there is only minor difference between the freedom of speech in the USA and the oppressive actions that are taken in “communist” countries.  I think the minor difference is that in the “communist” country, they fear people organizing against the state and in the USA they do not fear as much. The USA is less fearful as they have figured out how to orchestrate political campaign and how to manipulate the population to not listen to those acting out against the government. There are many who yet trust the mass media/ social media and does not realize they are been fed biased sensationalized reports instead of critically looking at both sides of a story. In conclusion, the population in a democratic country have to learn how rhetoric, propaganda, slogans, sensationalized reporting, researching both sides to the story, campaigns and marketing work in our every day lives.

Reference

Schenck v. United States. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved November 27, 2015, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/249us47