Congress Shall Make No Law: The First Amendment, Unprotected Expression, and the U.S. Supreme Court

By David M. O'Brien

Book Overview

The First Amendment declares that 'Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . . ' Yet, in the following 200 years, the Supreme Court has defined certain categories of expression-the obscene, the defamatory, commercial, and fighting words or disruptive expression-as constitutionally unprotected. Noted legal scholar David O'Brien provides a history of each category of unprotected speech and puts into bold relief the larger questions of what kinds of expression should (and should not) receive First Amendment protection.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1442205105
• ISBN13: 9781442205109
• Release Date: September 2010
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.8"