Center Stage for the First Amendment: Protecting Controversial Speech Shows a Libertarian Bent

Center Stage for the First Amendment: Protecting Controversial Speech Shows a Libertarian Bent

When history books look back at the last U.S. Supreme Court term, they may well focus on the first 45 words of the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment often took center stage, as the justices examined disputes involving funeral protests, violent video games, employee petitions, restrictions on pharmaceutical marketing and campaign finance reform.

“It was a fascinating term with the almost aggressive, pervasive and nearly unanimous protection of fairly basic First Amendment principles,” says Robert M. O’Neil, founder of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in Charlottesville, Va.

“It is clearly one of the more notable terms, especially given the number of free expression victories and the kinds of cases in which they were handed down,” agrees University of Washington law professor Ronald K.L. Collins, who specializes in First Amendment law.

The term clearly showed many conservative justices embracing fundamental free speech principles in several cases—most prominently Snyder v. Phelps, in which the First Amendment protected from tort liability those who protest near the funeral of a military service member; and Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, where California’s ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors was ruled unconstitutional.

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http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/center_stage_for_the_first_amendment_protecting_controversial_speech_shows/