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The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War) but is now found under Title 18, Crime. Specifically, it is ( et seq.) It was intended to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment, to prevent insubordination in the military, and to prevent the support of U.S. enemies during wartime. In 1919, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled through ''Schenck v. United States'' that the act did not violate the freedom of speech of those convicted under its provisions. The constitutionality of the law, its relationship to free speech, and the meaning of its language have been contested in court ever since. Among those charged with offenses under the Act are German-American socialist congressman and newspaper editor Victor Berger, Four time Socialist Party of America candidate, Eugene V. Debs, who languished almost three years in penitentiary after his conviction, former Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society president Joseph Franklin Rutherford, communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, Cablegate whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden. Rutherford's conviction was overturned on appeal.〔Rogerson, Alan (1969), ''Millions Now Living Will Never Die'', Constable, London, ISBN 0-09-455940-6, full text at ()〕 Although the most controversial sections of the Act—a set of amendments commonly called the Sedition Act of 1918—were repealed on March 3, 1921, the original Espionage Act was left intact.〔Vaughn, Stephen L. (ed.) (2007), ''Encyclopedia of American Journalism'', Routledge, London, ISBN 0415969506, p. 155.〕 ==Enactment== The Espionage Act of 1917 was passed, along with the Trading with the Enemy Act, just after the United States entered World War I in April 1917. It was based on the Defense Secrets Act of 1911, especially the notions of obtaining or delivering information relating to "national defense" to a person who was not "entitled to have it", itself based on an earlier British Official Secrets Act. The Espionage Act law imposed much stiffer penalties than the 1911 law, including the death penalty.〔 President Woodrow Wilson in his December 7, 1915 State of the Union address asked Congress for the legislation:〔Moynihan, ''Secrecy''. 89〕 Congress moved slowly. Even after the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Germany, when the Senate passed a version on February 20, 1916, the House did not vote before the then-current session of Congress ended. After the declaration of war in April 1917, both houses debated versions of the Wilson administration's drafts that included press censorship.〔Moynihan, ''Secrecy'', 90–92〕 That provision aroused opposition, with critics charging it established a system of "prior restraint" and delegated unlimited power to the president.〔Harold Edgar and Benno C. Schmidt, Jr., "The Espionage Statutes and the Publication of Defense Information", ''Columbia Law Review''. v. 73. no. 5, May 1973, 950–951〕 After weeks of intermittent debate, the Senate removed the censorship provision by a one-vote margin, voting 39 to 38.〔Moynihan, ''Secrecy'', 92–95〕 Wilson still insisted it was needed: "Authority to exercise censorship over the press....is absolutely necessary to the public safety", but signed the Act without the censorship provisions on June 15, 1917,〔Moynihan, ''Secrecy'', 96〕 after Congress passed the act on the same day.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-congress-passes-espionage-act )〕 Attorney General Thomas Watt Gregory supported passage of the act, but viewed it as a compromise. The President's Congressional rivals were proposing to remove responsibility for monitoring pro-German activity, whether espionage or some form of disloyalty, from the Department of Justice to the War Department and creating a form of courts-martial of doubtful constitutionality. The resulting Act was far more aggressive and restrictive than they wanted, but it silenced citizens opposed to the war. Officials in the Justice Department who had little enthusiasm for the law nevertheless hoped that even without generating many prosecutions it would help quiet public calls for more government action against those thought to be insufficiently patriotic.〔Geoffrey R. Stone, ''Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism'' (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004), 231–232〕 Wilson was denied language in the Act authorizing power to the executive branch for press censorship, but Congress did include a provision to block distribution of print materials through the Post Office.〔 It made it a crime: * To convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. This was punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than 30 years or both. * To convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies when the United States is at war, to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. This was punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 20 years or both. The Act also gave the Postmaster General authority to impound or to refuse to mail publications that he determined to be in violation of its prohibitions.〔Ann Hagedorn, ''Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 29〕 The Act also forbids the transfer of any naval vessel equipped for combat to any nation engaged in a conflict in which the United States is neutral. Seemingly uncontroversial when the Act was passed, this later became a legal stumbling block for the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when he sought to provide military aid to Great Britain before the United States entered World War II.〔Jean Edward Smith, ''FDR'' (New York: Random House, 2007), 467, 755n54〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Espionage Act of 1917」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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