Exceptions (Malik Speaking)
		Comment				MAIN PATH: Ann
		Ann

I value free speech, and other African Americans value free speech. We know that the First Amendment, protecting speech and association, helped us in the struggle for civil rights. But I also think there should be some carefully crafted limits.

The point I want to make here is that you've made current First Amendment doctrine sound more rigid than it is. There are important exceptions already recognized by the Supreme Court. These are all cases in which speech does NOT receive the highest level of protection granted by the First Amendment. In other words, these are cases in which speech CAN be restricted by law.

• Commercial speech, like advertisements, is not protected to the same extent as political speech.
• Obscene speech, in principle, does not have the same degree of protection as political speech; although this has become a pretty murky area in practice.
• "Fighting Words," although sometimes difficult to define, have been recognized as unprotected.
• "Group libel," in at least one case, was recognized as unprotected.

Some of these exceptions might be used to restrict hate speech. Furthermore, once we begin to examine these exceptions, we may find that other exceptions can be developed without giving up the values that the constitution is intended to protect.

The legal case against the university is not as clear cut as you suggest.

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