Famous Phrases
This theory, first articulated by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, argues that truth will eventually emerge from the competition of ideas in the public forum; censorship of speech is rarely justified since the truth can only be found when different opinions are subjected to criticism and objection in a free market.
What is The Marketplace of Ideas?
In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that symbolic political actions like flag burning are protected by the First Amendment as expressive conduct.
What is “Texas v. Johnson”?
This book, co-written by FIRE’s CEO, Greg Lukianoff, details the psychological effects of the erosion of free speech in education.
What is “The Coddling of the American Mind”?
Often called the Brandenburg Test due to its origin in Brandenburg v. Ohio, this two-pronged test determines whether speech which advocates the use of force or crime may be constitutionally regulated.
What is “incitement to imminent lawless action”?
These are university policies that violate the First Amendment by restricting protected expression on campus.
What are “speech codes”?
This oft-misquoted analogy is cited as an argument against disruptive speech. The phrase comes from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ opinion in Schenck v. United States, which stated the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely doing this?
What is “shouting fire in a crowded theater”?
In this famous case, the Supreme Court overturned Nixon’s claim to executive authority to prevent the publishing of the “Pentagon Papers,” a set of leaked documents showing that the U.S. government had lied about the war in Vietnam.
What is “N.Y. Times v. United States”?
This system awards colleges and universities a red, yellow, green, or warning status according to the school’s speech policies.
What is “FIRE’s Spotlight Database”?
Speech is considered a part of this category if it “appeals to the prurient interest, is patently offensive, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,” the standard set in Miller v. California.
What is “obscenity”?
The First Amendment has no exception for this kind of speech, which has no legal definition but is often thought to include racial slurs or other xenophobic remarks. Many schools attempt to prohibit this type of speech in campus speech policies.
What is “hate speech”?
This term, coined by FIRE President Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their book The Coddling of the American Mind, describes a culture or belief system in which physical and emotional security is valued above other practical or moral concerns.
What is “safetyism”?
In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that students in a public school in Iowa could not be punished for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. This case also created an eponymous test to determine whether a state actor violated a student’s First Amendment rights.
What is “Tinker v. Des Moines”?
FIRE promotes the establishment of these groups on campuses to help assist students through disciplinary processes in accordance with due process protections.
What are “Student Defenders Programs”?
In Schenck v. United States, this standard — later replaced by the Brandenburg Test—- was used to determine when speech may be constitutionally regulated.
What is the “clear and present danger standard”?
As decided in Healy v. James, this type of university is required to give its students full First Amendment protections whereas another type of university may restrict additional speech.
What is a “public university”?
In On Liberty, John Stuart Mill writes that mankind would be no more justified in silencing one person than he would be justified in silencing mankind, if this number of people believed one thing while everyone else believed something else.
What is “All mankind minus one”?
In his dissent to this case, in which the Court upheld the convictions of two Russian immigrants who protested U.S. military action in Russia by throwing leaflets from a New York City window, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes contended that the defendants’ actions did not meet the standards of the “clear and present danger” test established in Schenck v. United States.
What is “Abrams v. United States”?
FIRE shares articles and opinion pieces about campus free speech through this blog, available on FIRE’s website.
What is “FIRE’s Newsdesk”?
Speech must meet the standard set in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education of being “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive,” in order to qualify as this unprotected category of speech.
What is “harassment”?
Some red light colleges and universities maintain these small and out-of-the-way locations on their campuses, which limit student and faculty demonstrations and other expressive activities to specific spaces.
What are “free speech zones”?
In his concurrence in Jacobellis v. Ohio, Justice Potter Stewart famously used this phrase — rather than an established obscenity test — to determine whether a piece of content was or was not obscene.
What is “I know it when I see it?”
In this case, the Court held that a city criminal ordinance which prohibited the display of symbols which "arouse anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender" was unconstitutional, and established that classes of unprotected speech can only be regulated by content-neutral policies.
What is “R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, Minnesota”?
FIRE maintains which database of court cases related to the legality of speech and interpretations of the First Amendment?
What is the “First Amendment Library”?
This rarely-used category of unprotected speech was established in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, where the plaintiff called a New Hampshire marshal a “damned racketeer” and a “damned fascist.”
What are “fighting words”?
These types of restrictions on expression are permissible under First Amendment law so long as they are content neutral, narrowly-tailored to suit a governmental interest, and do not place undue restrictions on free speech. On campuses, they are often applied to campus postings and protests.
What are “reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions”?