Freedom of Speech

1st Amendment

Freedom of

Religion

Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition (all political expression)

Core purpose of first amendment

Self-governance (enabling people to obtain info from a diversity of sources, make decisions, and communicate them to the government)

Marketplace of ideas

People determine the truth by seeing which ideas have the power to be accepted in the marketplace of ideas

Original intentions of first amendment

To protect people from having their speech punished by the FEDERAL government

Was later extended to local and state govs with 14th amendment

Bill of rights protects people from

Government actions and from people acting with the authority of government

Freedom of speech exists to protect

unpopular ideas and the right to BE EXPOSED to different ideas and POVs

Pure Speech

Verbal expression before an audience that has CHOSEN to listen

Symbolic speech

Use of actions and symbols, in addition to or instead of words, to express ideas

Restrictions on symbolic speech

May be restricted unlike pure speech, if it for instance endangers public safety

Who has the power to restrict speech?

ONLY the government

(Your boss CAN tell you to not say something)

Content restrictions on speech

Can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater (danger to people trying to escape)

Balancing test- Gov weighing danger to public vs rights of person saying it

Laws governing speech must be CLEAR

What can be punished based on content: obscenity, defamation, fighting words

Obscenity

treats sex or nudity in an offensive/lewd manner

Violates standards of decency

Lacks serious literary, artistic, political, scientific value

Defamation vs Slander vs Libel

Defamation: FALSE EXPRESSION that injures a person’s reputation

Slander: false SPEECH that injures a person’s reputation (when defamation is spoken)

Libel: false WRITTEN or PUBLISHED statements that injures a person’s reputation

ALL HAVE TO BE FALSE!!

Fighting words

Face-to-face spoken words that are likely to cause immediate violence

Commercial speech

Speaker is more likely to be engaged in commerce

Intended audience is commercial, actual, potential consumers (most advertising)

Gov can ban/regulate if FALSE, misleading, ILLEGAL products

Seditious Speech

Speech urging resistance to lawful authority or advocating overthrow of the government

(Brandenburg v Ohio) now banned only when absolutely necessary

Time, Place, Manner Regulations

“Compelling interests”, places where free speech is different to preserve an institution’s purpose

Regulations must be viewpoint-neutral and enforced equally (can’t only enforce when disagree)

Uniform Code of Military Justice

Respecting chain of command

Can’t mock the president

Regulations on speech in PRISONS

banned if speech endangers inmates and staff

or if limited speech serves correctional purposes

Speech regulations in public schools

Schools have less freedom than in “public forums”

Tinker v Des Moines, Bethel v Fraser, Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier

Age, school taken to account (college more freedom than middle school)