Actually I was talking about the sedition case, but more of a “clear and present danger” type of reading. I don’t think it’s seditious to protest emergency measures, but at the same time there’s a grey area where the right to protest buts against public safety. These are short term restrictions. I assume in the government wants to get their jurisdiction back to normal. At least, there’s no evidence to me that they are happy about the current situation.

I understood Holmes to be saying that protesting the war in that epoch could lead to actual violence in the US. The domestic terrorism of the anarchists earlier in the decade could make you feel that way.