There is a strong bias in United States law against restricting expression on the basis of its content. Instead, the emphasis is on identifying social effects that are disruptive or balancing freedom of speech against the simultaneous need to achieve other social goals. In a few areas, however, specific types of content have received explicit attention, either in order to ensure that such speech remains protected (political speech) or to identify when it is appropriate for such speech to be restricted (obscenity).
Constitutional Basics
Discussion of the constitutional principles that support freedom of expression and the types of expressive spaces interpretation and application of these principles have created within the United States.
MIT Press [mitpress.edu]
Sandra Braman/Change of State: Information, Policy, and Power -- Constitutional Information Policy Principles and the Spaces They Create
A brief history of the First Amendment and an introduction to principles that underlie it.
First Amendment Center [www.firstamendmentcenter.org]
First Amendment Center/About the First Amendment
An introduction to First Amendment law as it applies to the arts, including materials that make this useful in a course.
National Endowment for the Arts [www.nea.gov]
National Endowment for the Arts/Freedom of Expression at the National Endowment for the Arts
Political Speech
Political speech receives the highest levels of protection under the First Amendment.
Links to a number of analyses of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 from diverse perspectives.
Center for Democracy and Technology [www.cdt.org]
CDT and Other Organizations/Analysis of USA PATRIOT Act as Enacted
A summary of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act that were changed and/or renewed by Congress in 2005.
Congressional Research Service/Federation of American Scientists [www.fas.org]
USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005: A Legal Analysis
Artists often use or depict flags in their work, but sometimes run into accusations that they are desecrating the flag illegally. The battle over particular uses of the flag has a long history in the U.S., and this is currently an issue before the U.S. Congress as a result of newly intense interest in a constitutional amendment that would forbid all non-official uses of the flag. A history of the issue in the U.S. and the current state of the law.
First Amendment Center/Implementing a Flag Desecration Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
An analysis of how political speech on the internet is being treated legally.
Center for Democracy and Technology [www.cdt.org]
Center for Demoracy and Technology/Free Speech
Obscenity
The history and current status of the legal environment for sexual expression in the United States.
The Free Expression Policy Project, Brennan Center for Justice, NYU School of Law [www.fepproject.org]
Free Expression Project/Fact Sheet on Sex and Censorship
It is not only when funding decisions are made that there is a need for a governmental entity to determine whether or not there is aesthetic value. Aesthetic (or literary) value is also one of the four criteria of importance in determining whether or not content is obscene and therefore not protected under the First Amendment. There are no clear rules that judges should follow in such cases, but this piece provides an overview of the state of the problem, and of the law.
National Endowment for the Arts [www.nea.gov]
National Endowment for the Arts/Governmental Determinations of Aesthetic Value
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) details the rules by which it evaluates whether or not inappropriate content is being broadcast, describes the rules for the “safe harbor” period in which profanity and pornography can be broadcast, and explains how to complain if you feel inappropriate material has been aired.
Federal Communications Commission [www.fcc.gov]
Federal Communications Commission/Obscenity, Indecency, and Profanity
FAQ:
fact sheet:
A ratings system has been put in place for television programs so that parents can protect their children from seeing certain types of content that may be inappropriate, and the V-chip is a technology that makes it easy to design in filters to prevent certain shows with certain ratings from being presented. This fact sheet details the ratings that are in place and explains the V-chip.
Federal Communications Commission [www.fcc.gov]
Federal Communications Commission/The V-Chip: Putting Restrictions on What Your Children Watch