Types of Speech Pure Speech Symbolic Speech Pure

Types of Speech • Pure Speech • Symbolic Speech

Pure Speech • The most common form of speech and is delivered sometimes in the privacy of your home. It relies only on words to communicate ideas.

Symbolic Speech • Speech that uses symbols and actions like burning the flag in addition to words to communicate ideas.

Tinker v. Des Moines School District • Supreme Court case that upheld the right of students to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands.

Seditious Speech • Any speech urging resistance to authority or advocating the overthrow of the government.

Clear and Present Danger • When speech presents an immediate danger then the 1 st amendment stops.

Schenck v. United States • The Supreme Court upheld a ruling against Charles Schenck who distributed leaflets during WWI urging draftees to obstruct the war effort.

Bad Tendency Doctrine • In Gitlow v. New York the courts said that speech could be restricted even if it had only a tendency to illegal action.

Preferred Position Doctrine • The court holds that the 1 st amendment freedoms are more fundamental than other freedoms because they provide the basis of all liberties.

Sedition Laws • The courts have narrowed this over the years. • Brandenburg v. Ohio was a case involving the KKK. They were prevented from marching and burning crosses and were arrested. The courts said that advocating the use of force may not be forbidden except where it is being used to incite or produce imminent lawless action.

Speech Not Protected • Defamatory Speech • Slander • Libel

Fighting Words • Words that insult and lead to violence is not protected by the 1 st amendment.

Student Speech • Bethel School District v Fraser • While students do not give up their 1 st amendment rights in high school, the courts have given school officials the right to determine what is lewd and indecent speech. • This is why you can be suspended for indecent speech in the classroom or on school property.

Hazelwood School District v Kuhlmeier • This case gives school officials sweeping authority over what students publish in school-sponsored newspapers and other school related activities.