Terminiello v. Chicago 337 U.S. 1 (1949)

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TERMINIELLO v. CHICAGO 337 U.S. 1 (1949)

Terminiello was convicted of disorderly conduct after a meeting in a private hall outside of which a thousand persons violently protested his anti-Semitic, antiblack, and anticommunist harangue. The Court reversed because the jury had been instructed that it might convict on a finding that Terminiello's speech "invite[d] dispute." This instruction failed to require a finding of clear and present danger of violence. Terminiello frequently is coupled with feiner v. new york (1951) as illustrations of the hostile audience problem.

Martin Shapiro
(1986)

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