The FIRE team debates the proposition: Should there be any categories of unprotected speech? General Counsel Ronnie London and Chief Counsel Bob Corn-Revere go through each category of speech falling outside First Amendment protection to decide whether it should remain unprotected or if it’s time to “remove an arrow from the government’s quiver.”
Read the transcript).
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
17:59 Obscenity
21:20 Child pornography
25:25 Fighting words
32:36 Defamation
41:22 Incitement to imminent lawless action
52:07 True threats
56:30 False advertising and hate speech
01:02:50 Outro
Show notes:
-Court cases:
Schenck v. United States) (1919)
Near v. Minnesota Ex Rel. Olson, County Attorney) (1931)
Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire) (1942)
Roth v. United States) (1957)
Miller v. California) (1973)
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, Minnesota) (1992)
Counterman v. Colorado) (2023)
Brandenburg v. Ohio) (1969)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan) (1964)
Virginia v. Barry Elton Black, Richard J. Elliot, and Jonathan O’Mara) (2003)
United States v. Xavier Alvarez) (2012)
-Legislation:
The Comstock Act) (1873)
The Stolen Valor Act) (2005)
