What Is Protected Speech? Is ”Hate Speech” Protected

 

JOE COHN (CONE) FROM
"FIRE"
"FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS & EXPRESSION"

Joe Cohn serves as Legislative and Policy Director overseeing that departments team of attorneys and staff tasked with the duties of monitoring and engaging in legislation and regulatory matters. Under his leadership, FIRE has secured numerous victories for free speech and due process issues at the local, state and federal level. 

WHAT IS "HATE SPEECH"

Hate speech in the United States cannot be directly regulated by the government due to the fundamental right to freedom of speech protected by the Constitution. While "hate speech" is not a legal term in the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that most of what would qualify as "hate speech" in other western countries is legally protected speech under the First Amendment. In a Supreme Court case on the issue, Matal v. Tam (2017), the justices unanimously reaffirmed that there is effectively no "hate speech" exception to the free speech rights protected by the First Amendment and that the U.S. government may not discriminate against speech on the basis of the speaker's viewpoint.

In academic circles, there has been debate over freedom of speech, hate speech, and hate speech legislation. 
Other forms of speech have lesser protection under court interpretations of the First Amendment, including commercial speech, "fighting words", and obscenity.

Under current First Amendment jurisprudence, hate speech can only be criminalized when it directly incites imminent criminal activity or consists of specific threats of violence targeted against a specific person or group.

 

 

 

 

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