ABSTRACT
The categorical language of the First Amendment, prohibiting government interference with freedom of expression, gives Americans a broad right to speak, publish, broadcast, blog, and demonstrate on matters of conscience and consequence—and on trivial matters, too—without fear of government reprisal. Professor Vincent Blasi offers a variation on the argument that freedom of expression serves primarily to further democratic governance. He argues that freedom of expression is to be valued as a check on abuses of governmental authority. Among the most important judicial practices guaranteeing maximum freedom of expression are, judicial review, First Amendment due process, and a bias against regulating expressive content. The repressive bad-tendency test was gradually replaced by the clear-and-present-danger test, which today protects much more speech than the bad-tendency test. Hostile speech has escalated in the United States, particularly in social media—much of it protected, hyperbolic political speech denigrating Mexican and Muslim immigrants, claiming police "brutality" and charging class suppression.
