Today the Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed what conservatives, libertarians and honest liberals have been arguing for some time now: when it comes to the First Amendment, there’s no “hate speech” exemption:
From today’s opinion by Justice Samuel Alito (for four justices) in Matal v. Tam, the “Slants” case:
[The idea that the government may restrict] speech expressing ideas that offend … strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express “the thought that we hate.”
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote separately, also for four justices, but on this point the opinions agreed:
A law found to discriminate based on viewpoint is an “egregious form of content discrimination,” which is “presumptively unconstitutional.” … A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all. The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government’s benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society.
And the justices made clear that speech that some view as racially offensive is protected not just against outright prohibition but also against lesser restrictions.
This is a great blow to Social Justice Warriors looking to limit or eliminate the speech of their political opponents as “hate speech.”
Thank God for the First Amendment, or we might be looking at situations like Canada’s, where you can be fined for using unapproved pronouns.
Tags: "hate speech", Canada, First Amendment, Free Speech, Social Justice Warriors, Supreme Court
Thank goodness we will hopefully have an end to not just social justice warriors but KEYBOARD social justice warriors. The worst of them all…
Also, when you get a moment would you shoot me an email? Have an article we wrote I was hoping you might review.