Hess v. Indiana

Hess v. Indiana

An Indiana University student protest led to a landmark First Amendment
case. In response to the National Guard's killing of four students
demonstrating against the Vietnam War at Kent State University on May 4,
1970, a group of protesters gathered at Bryan Hall on May 13 demanding to
see President Joseph L. Sutton. Student Greg Hess shouted, "We will take
the fucking street later...," resulting in his arrest for violating the Indiana
disorderly conduct statute. Represented by law professor F. Thomas
Schornhorst, Hess was convicted in local court, and the Indiana Supreme
Court upheld the ruling. Believing a First Amendment issue was at stake,
Schornhorst and fellow law professor Patrick Baude appealed to the U.S.
Supreme Court. In 1973, the Court overturned Hess's conviction, finding
the arrest to have been an unconstitutional infringement on his First
Amendment rights. The Court's decision remains an important case for its
protection of speech that does not incite immediate unlawful action.
IU HISTORICAL MARKER 2019


Submitted by @WilliamBaude