Hess v. Indiana

E179509

First Amendment case U.S. Supreme Court case freedom of speech case

Hess v. Indiana is a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that clarified the limits of the First Amendment's "incitement" exception by holding that an antiwar protester's vulgar statement advocating future lawless action was protected speech.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Hess v. Indiana canonical	3
Hess v. State of Indiana	1
defendant in Hess v. Indiana	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1572449 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Hess v. Indiana
Context triple: [Brandenburg v. Ohio, subsequentCitationBy, Hess v. Indiana]

A. Timbs v. Indiana
Timbs v. Indiana is a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
B. Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
C. Gebhart v. Belton
Gebhart v. Belton was a landmark Delaware school segregation case whose rulings in favor of Black students became one of the four consolidated cases decided in Brown v. Board of Education, contributing to the Supreme Court’s rejection of “separate but equal” in public education.
D. Scopes v. State
Scopes v. State was the 1927 Tennessee Supreme Court decision in the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial,” which tested the legality of teaching evolution in public schools and highlighted the clash between modern science and religious fundamentalism.
E. Bolling v. Sharpe
Bolling v. Sharpe is a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that held racial segregation in Washington, D.C. public schools unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Hess v. Indiana
Target entity description: Hess v. Indiana is a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that clarified the limits of the First Amendment's "incitement" exception by holding that an antiwar protester's vulgar statement advocating future lawless action was protected speech.

A. Timbs v. Indiana
Timbs v. Indiana is a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
B. Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
C. Gebhart v. Belton
Gebhart v. Belton was a landmark Delaware school segregation case whose rulings in favor of Black students became one of the four consolidated cases decided in Brown v. Board of Education, contributing to the Supreme Court’s rejection of “separate but equal” in public education.
D. Scopes v. State
Scopes v. State was the 1927 Tennessee Supreme Court decision in the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial,” which tested the legality of teaching evolution in public schools and highlighted the clash between modern science and religious fundamentalism.
E. Bolling v. Sharpe
Bolling v. Sharpe is a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that held racial segregation in Washington, D.C. public schools unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	First Amendment case ⓘ U.S. Supreme Court case ⓘ freedom of speech case ⓘ
areaOfLaw	civil liberties ⓘ constitutional law ⓘ criminal law ⓘ
category	United States Supreme Court case in the Burger Court era ⓘ United States free speech case ⓘ
citation	414 U.S. 105 ⓘ
clarified	requirement of imminence for unprotected incitement ⓘ scope of the incitement exception to the First Amendment ⓘ
constitutionalProvision	First Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ linked to: Fourteenth Amendment
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decisionDate	1973-03-19 ⓘ
decisionType	per curiam opinion ⓘ
fullCaseName	Hess v. State of Indiana ⓘ linked to: Hess v. Indiana
holding	The First Amendment protects speech that advocates illegal action at some indefinite future time and is not directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action. ⓘ The petitioner’s statement at an antiwar demonstration was protected speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. ⓘ
impact	limited government power to punish advocacy of future lawless action ⓘ strengthened protection for offensive political speech ⓘ
jurisdiction	federal question jurisdiction ⓘ
languageCharacterization	vulgar but protected political speech ⓘ
legalIssue	First Amendment freedom of speech ⓘ incitement to lawless action ⓘ limits of the incitement exception to the First Amendment ⓘ
lowerCourt	Supreme Court of Indiana ⓘ linked to: Indiana Supreme Court
lowerCourtOutcome	conviction affirmed ⓘ
majorityOpinionBy	Justice William O. Douglas ⓘ linked to: William O. Douglas
oralArgumentDate	1973-01-08 ⓘ
page	105 ⓘ
petitioner	Gregory Hess ⓘ
precedent	Brandenburg v. Ohio ⓘ
relatedDoctrine	advocacy of illegal conduct ⓘ imminent lawless action ⓘ
reporter	United States Reports ⓘ
respondent	State of Indiana ⓘ linked to: Indiana
resultForPetitioner	conviction overturned ⓘ
standardApplied	Brandenburg v. Ohio imminent lawless action test ⓘ linked to: Brandenburg v. Ohio
stateLawInvolved	Indiana disorderly conduct statute ⓘ
subjectMatter	antiwar protest ⓘ vulgar political expression ⓘ
supremeCourtOutcome	conviction reversed ⓘ
volume	414 ⓘ
vote	6-3 ⓘ
yearDecided	1973 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Brandenburg v. Ohio → subsequentCitationBy → Hess v. Indiana ⓘ

Hess v. Indiana → fullCaseName → Hess v. State of Indiana ⓘ

linked to: Hess v. Indiana

Gregory Hess → notableFor → Hess v. Indiana ⓘ

Gregory Hess → legalCase → Hess v. Indiana ⓘ

Gregory Hess → roleInCase → defendant in Hess v. Indiana ⓘ