The First Amendment: How Free Is Speech?

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How Free Is Speech? The First Amendment prohibits Congress from implementing laws which bar freedom of speech and press. This vital piece of the U.S. Constitution helped build one of the more forward thinking nations of today. America is a melting pot of eclectic cultures, but rights and privilege do not always equal respect. Every citizen is protected by constitutional law, but the Supreme Court must decipher free speech from hate speech as the latter is unlawful. The end goal of any regulation is to maintain order without sacrificing anyone’s personal dignity, but implementation requires action in addition to written word. A recent example of the Supreme Court’s due diligence came with an offensive label in sports media. The Washington Redskins are a professional football team within the NFL, and although seemingly archaic to some, many Native Americans still find the name offensive. In response to this case, the Supreme Court ruled that “…the ultimate decision is based on whether the evidence shows that a substantial composite of the Native American population found the term ‘Redskins’ to be disparaging when the respective registrations issued” (N. Irwin, 2014). The Redskins were able to keep their name in the end as there was not enough of an offended group to eventually represent themselves. …show more content…

An article from nearly three decades ago asks if it “...is free speech to lure children with images they've been taught to trust, cartoon images, to a product the surgeon general has called an addiction that can lead to death?” (G. Desroches, 1994). The Supreme Court ruled that these types of advertisements are relegated to commercial speech as opposed to hate speech. Although cigarettes have been proven fatal and offensive, their advertisers have carte blanche within the realm of commercial

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