---
title: "Brandenburg Test Definition | Model Diplomat"
description: "The Brandenburg test defines when the government can punish inflammatory speech, focusing on incitement to imminent lawless action. Key for civil service exams."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/brandenburg-test"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The Brandenburg test holds that government may punish inflammatory speech only when it is directed to inciting imminent lawless action and is likely to produce such action.
- What three elements must the government prove under the Brandenburg test?
- Which earlier doctrines did Brandenburg v. Ohio replace?
- How did Hess v. Indiana (1973) refine the test?
- Why does the Brandenburg test matter for the FSOT?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

The Brandenburg test holds that government may punish inflammatory speech only when it is directed to inciting imminent lawless action and is likely to produce such action.

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In 1969 the U.S. Supreme Court used the Brandenburg test to reverse the conviction of Clarence Brandenburg, an Ohio Ku Klux Klan leader, holding his filmed rally speech was protected abstract advocacy, not imminent incitement.

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