[2] It was widely believed to have been slightly weakened by Skinner v. Oklahoma 316 U.S. 535 (1942), which involved compulsory sterilization of male habitual criminals (and came to a contrary result).

[3][4] In Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927), the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a person who had engaged in speech that raised a threat to society.

The question before the court was whether the 1919 Criminal Syndicalism Act of California violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.

The Court unanimously upheld Whitney's conviction; holding that the state, in exercise of its police power, has the power to punish those who abuse their rights to freedom of speech "by utterances inimical to the public welfare, tending to incite crime, disturb the public peace, or endanger the foundations of organized government and threaten its overthrow."

The Court held 1) the U.S. Coast Guard may seize, board, and search vessels beyond the U.S. territorial waters and the high seas 12 miles outward from the coast if probable cause exists to believe that the vessel and persons in it are violating U.S. revenue laws, and 2) the Coast Guard's use of searchlights to view contents of a vessel on the high seas does not constitute a search and thus does not warrant Fourth Amendment protections; the use of a searchlight is comparable to the use of binoculars, and the courts have long held that use of binoculars by law enforcement is not prohibited by the Constitution.