Is the right to free speech absolute? What are the types of speech that receive no protection under the First Amendment?

What will be an ideal response?


Answers will vary. The right to free speech is not absolute. Although the Court has zealously safeguarded the right to free speech, at times it has imposed limits on speech in the interests of protecting other rights of Americans. These rights include security against harm to one's person or reputation, the need for public order, and the need to preserve the government.Certain types of speech receive no protection under the First Amendment. Speech has never been protected when the speech itself is part of a crime. An act of fraud, for example, often may be carried out entirely through spoken words. Accused fraudsters who attempted to defend their actions by standing on their First Amendment rights would get nowhere. Other types of unprotected speech include defamation (libel and slander) and obscenity. No person has the right to libel or slander another. Libel is a published report of a falsehood that tends to injure a person's reputation or character. Slander is the public utterance (speaking) of a statement that holds a person up for contempt, ridicule, or hatred. Indecency is obscenity Indecency or offensiveness in speech, expression, behavior, or appearance.

Political Science

You might also like to view...

The Speedy Trial Act of 1974 mandated time limits, ultimately reaching ____, within which criminal charges must be either brought to trial or dismissed.

a. thirty days b. one hundred days c. six months d. nine months

Political Science

Describe how the geography of a state can play a role in civil wars

What will be an ideal response?

Political Science

All of the following are TRUE of the Industrial Revolution EXCEPT that it

a. created pressures for the country to become more democratic. b. decreased the standard of living throughout the United Kingdom. c. involved the rapid expansion of manufacturing production and technological innovation. d. squeezed small landowners off the land. e. allowed Great Britain to become the dominant international power.

Political Science

Congress is the least popular of the three branches of government because

a. its work is largely done in secret and the people don't understand how it functions. b. it is seen as unwilling or unable to get itself involved in the struggles of politics. c. it does not have the same mystique or aura that the other branches possess. d. members tend to pursue broad interests, instead of the special interests held by constituents.

Political Science