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First Amendment; Strict Scrutiny; Protected and Unprotected speech; Censorship; Compelling government interest; Free Speech Protectionl Frist Amendment procedure
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Full-Text Articles in Legal History
Where's The Fire?, Burt Neuborne
Where's The Fire?, Burt Neuborne
Journal of Law and Policy
Freedom of speech is priceless, but distressingly fragile. Life, and law, would be much simpler if we could react to free speech's importance and fragility by granting it absolute legal protection. Since, however, absolute protection of speech is not—and should not be—a serious option, we face the legal realist challenge of erecting a First Amendment legal structure capable of providing real-world protection to highly controversial speech, often by weak speakers, without closing the door to government regulation. Given the uncertainty inherent in applying fact-dependent complex rules in protean factual settings, many potential speakers would avoid being drawn into unpredictable and …