Gitlow v. New York

Gitlow v. New York, decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1925 that affirmed the government’s right to limit speech that threatens its security. Benjamin Gitlow, a member of a radical section of the Socialist Party, published a newsletter called The Revolutionary Age, which contained a 'Left Wing Manifesto' advocating the violent overthrow of government. He was convicted of criminal anarchy under a New York state law. The Supreme Court upheld the law, ruling that the free speech guarantees defined in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States are secondary to the preservation of the state. However, the Court set an important precedent in its ruling by asserting that freedom of speech and of the press were fundamental personal liberties protected from infringement by the states.