Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T13:11:51.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 8 - Will Free Speech Survive?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2023

Dennis Baron
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Get access

Summary

The First Amendment protects speech, and it protects speakers from compelled speech. Generally, you can't be forced to say or sign anything – a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, a loyalty oath, that goes against your deeply held beliefs. But all speech protections are contingent: just as some speech has no constitutional protection, governments and in some cases, employers, may compel certain types of speech. Laws may dictate the content of product labels or other aspects of advertising; employers may require workers to follow scripts or repeat certain formulas; some loyalty oaths may be required; and federal law requires English as the language of air traffic control. We look at three examples of compelled speech in this chapter: the presidential oath of office, prescribed in the US Constitution; the Miranda warning, the caution that police must give to anyone under arrest before they may question them. And statutes that define their own words. Such definitions require us to accept a particular meaning and reject alternatives, and as such, they constitute compelled speech. We see the problems that ensued when the US government enacted a law defining "marriage" as the "union of one man and one woman," a law that was ultimately ruled unconstitution by the US Supreme Court in Windsor v. US.

Type
Chapter
Information
You Can't Always Say What You Want
The Paradox of Free Speech
, pp. 210 - 228
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Will Free Speech Survive?
  • Dennis Baron, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Book: You Can't Always Say What You Want
  • Online publication: 12 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009198882.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Will Free Speech Survive?
  • Dennis Baron, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Book: You Can't Always Say What You Want
  • Online publication: 12 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009198882.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Will Free Speech Survive?
  • Dennis Baron, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Book: You Can't Always Say What You Want
  • Online publication: 12 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009198882.009
Available formats
×