Browsing by Subject "freedom of speech"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    The Constitutional Status of Speech About Oneself
    (2011) Wright, R. George
    Recently, the idea has prominently been endorsed that the free speech clause does, or at least should, protect speech that is essentially about the speaker--autobiographical speech with no intended social or political implications, as strongly as the free speech clause protects political speech. This Article explores the argument that speech about oneself, with no such political or other social implications, should be treated as of equal free speech value as political speech, and ultimately rejects such an argument. The Article reaches this result mainly by considering and applying the various basic purposes widely thought to underlie special protection for speech in the first place, but also by noting the implications of current Supreme Court case law, as well as the practical risks of even an unintended and indirect constitutional validation of cultural narcissism.
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    'What is that Honor?': Re-Thinking Free Speech in the 'Stolen Valor' Case
    (2012) Wright, R. George
    This Article addresses the recent emotionally-charged Supreme Court case of United States v. Alvarez. In Alvarez, the Court struck down on free speech grounds the Stolen Valor Act, which, in effect, prohibited lying claims to have been personally awarded particular military medals. The Article first presents four distinctive reasons why, if possible, the Court should have avoided deciding this case on free speech grounds. The Article then argues that if the Court was nevertheless somehow bound to reach the free speech merits, the same four reasons presented above should have persuaded the Court to have upheld the statute. Among the relevant considerations are an appropriate degree of judicial modesty under the particular circumstances, and the only minimal degree to which the logic and value of free speech were realistically implicated in the case.