Sedition

This chapter examines the concept of “sedition” and efforts to suppress dissent and disloyalty. President Adams used the Sedition Act of 1798 to prosecute and jail his critics and political opponents. That episode ultimately revealed the “central meaning of the First Amendment”—that Americans must be free to criticize their public officials, even if that criticism is often caustic and unpleasant. Federal and state officials have not proposed reviving the crime of seditious libel. However, several critics of the Trump administration have come under fire and suffered tangible consequences for openly criticizing the president and the Trump administration. As in prior eras, recent efforts to punish sedition and disloyalty pose serious threats to democratic self-government and political discourse.