<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Whitney v. California (1927) </Td> </Tr> <P> Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . The Court held that government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless that speech is "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action ." Specifically, it struck down Ohio's criminal syndicalism statute, because that statute broadly prohibited the mere advocacy of violence . In the process, Whitney v. California (1927) was explicitly overruled, and doubt was cast on Schenck v. United States (1919), Abrams v. United States (1919), Gitlow v. New York (1925), and Dennis v. United States (1951). </P> <P> Clarence Brandenburg, a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader in rural Ohio, contacted a reporter at a Cincinnati television station and invited him to cover a KKK rally that would take place in Hamilton County in the summer of 1964 . Portions of the rally were filmed, showing several men in robes and hoods, some carrying firearms, first burning a cross and then making speeches . One of the speeches made reference to the possibility of "revengeance" against "niggers", "Jews", and those who supported them . One of the speeches also claimed that "our President, our Congress, our Supreme Court, continues to suppress the white, Caucasian race", and announced plans for a march on Washington to take place on the Fourth of July . Brandenburg was charged with advocating violence under Ohio's criminal syndicalism statute for his participation in the rally and for the speech he made . In relevant part, the statute--enacted in 1919 during the First Red Scare--proscribed "advocat (ing)... the duty, necessity, or propriety of crime, sabotage, violence, or unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform" and "voluntarily assembl (ing) with any society, group or assemblage of persons formed to teach or advocate the doctrines of criminal syndicalism". </P>

Brandenburg v. ohio is the precedent setting case that held