The government's interest in maintaining national security and preventing dissension among the troops outweighed Schenck's interest in free speech. The act was challenged as a prior restraint on speech. The Court held that the government cannot forbid the advocacy of the use of force unless that advocacy is directed to inciting imminent illegal activity and is likely to succeed. Expressive conduct or symbolic speech involves communicative conduct that is the behavioral equivalent of speech. The conduct itself is the idea or message.
Some expressive conduct is the equivalent of speech and is protected by the First Amendment.
Statutes that prohibit the desecration of the U.S. flag have been found to unconstitutionally restrict free expression. Johnson's actions were communicative conduct that warranted First Amendment protection, even though they were repugnant to many people. Prohibitions on nudity and other erotic but nonobscene expressive conduct have generally been struck down by the Court. While recognizing that nude dancing has generally been considered protected expressive conduct, the justices pointed out that such activity is only marginally within the perimeters of First Amendment protection. Commercial Speech Commercial speech, usually in the form of advertising, enjoys some First Amendment protection, but not to the same degree as that given to noncommercial forms of expression.