The current First Amendment standard for restricting incitement to violence, requiring that speech be directed to producing imminent lawless action and be likely to produce such action. It replaced the clear and present danger test and provides stronger protection for speech.
From Latin 'imminere' (to overhang, threaten), 'lawless' from Old English 'lahleas' (without law), and 'action' from Latin 'actio' (a doing). This test emerged from Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), refining earlier doctrines to require more immediate and specific threats to justify speech restrictions.
This standard emerged from defending a KKK leader's racist rally, ironically creating one of the strongest protections for free speech in the world! Brandenburg v. Ohio established that even hateful speech advocating violence is protected unless it's intended and likely to cause immediate lawless action—meaning you can advocate revolution in the abstract, but not incite a mob to immediate violence.
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