What kinds of speech does the first amendment protect? What kinds does it not protect?
The First Amendment protects a wide range of speech, including political speech, symbolic speech, hate speech, and offensive speech. It also protects artistic expression, commercial speech, and religious speech.
However, there are certain types of speech that are not protected by the First Amendment, including:
- Incitement to violence: Speech that is intended to provoke imminent lawless action and is likely to incite such action is not protected.
- True threats: Speech that conveys a serious intention to commit an act of unlawful violence against a particular individual or group of individuals is not protected.
- Fighting words: Speech that is likely to incite immediate violence or retaliation by the listener is not protected.
- Obscenity: Speech that appeals to prurient interests, is patently offensive, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value is not protected.
- Defamation: False statements that harm someone's reputation are not protected.
- Child ography: Speech that depicts sexually explicit conduct involving a minor is not protected.