Sedition Act

A "Sedition Act" is a law that criminalizes activity seen by the government as sedition. While Thomas Jefferson called such laws "expressly and positively forbidden" by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court upheld the Sedition Act of 1918 in the case Abrams v. United States, stating that the government could restrict speech which caused a "clear and present danger."

In the United States, there have been two Sedition Acts, neither of which is currently in force.

• Sedition Act of 1798, which automatically expired in 1801.
• Sedition Act of 1918, which was repealed in 1921.

Numerous other countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, have sedition acts currently in force.