Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech was made so that everyone could speak their mind, and no matter what they were saying, the government wouldn't shut them down. Although many people think Freedom of Speech is just talking, there are many different forms of speech. But what forms of speech are there? There are three forms of speech, Pure Speech, Speech Plus, and Symbolic Speech.

Pure speech is the most common form, it is the speech delivered privately in one's home or out to a crowd. The Court provides the most protection from the government to this form of speech, because it only uses the power to express words and ideas.

Speech plus is the form of speech that is demonsrating or marching actions, and because it involves actions, it is more vulnerable to government restrictions that weren't covered in the pure speech. The restrictions placed on this form were that they could not disturb traffic, block sidewalks, illegally trespass, or put people in danger.

Symbolic speech involves the use of actions or symbols, and not words to get the point across. Protest arm bands, buttons, and wearing specific colors of clothing to get your point across are all actions people to do express their right to use symbolic speech. The Court has the most trouble deciding points against symbolic speech, there are more reversals on decisions in this form of speech than any other. Since this is not the use of words and only symbols, it is hard for the Court to decide whether it is aloud to be done.

Besides the three forms of free speech, there are also forms that the First Amendment does not protect from, such as, seditious speech and defamatory speech. Seditious speech is, in definition, "urging resistance to outlaw authority or advocating the overthrow of the government." The Court has outlawed this form of speech and it is not protected by the First Amendment. The First Amendment also does not protect defamatory speech, or the false speech that damages a person's good name, reputation, or character. Both forms of defamatory speech, written and spoken, are illegal.

It became a problem when the Court did not know what was protected by the First Amendment, so they created three tests to create limits on free speech.

(1) The "clear and present danger" test

(2) The bad tendency doctrine

(3) The preferred position doctrine

There are also many other things that aren't specified in a form of speech that are not protected such as fighting words that are so insulting that they provoke physical violence. Speech is one of the most difficult things to keep track of, it is constantly changing, and people find ways past the rules, making more problems for the Court to fix. Although there are many problems with it, Freedom of Speech is so important to have for the stability of our country.