Editor’s note: Today I’m cranking the WABAC machine to July 2016, where I explore the origin of an old (and widely misunderstood) adage about the limits on free speech.
“We should zealously defend our right to free speech against the endless efforts to stifle it, via hate-speech laws, via campaign finance restrictions, via various efforts to regulate the press and blogging, and so forth. However, we should also zealously decry, challenge, and prosecute those who cross the falsely shouting fire line. We should not blindly defend as “free speech” defend statements or actions that, as Justice Holmes aptly noted, cause a clear and present danger.”
Mr. Bell is lucky, indeed!
“We should zealously defend our right to free speech against the endless efforts to stifle it, via hate-speech laws, via campaign finance restrictions, via various efforts to regulate the press and blogging, and so forth. However, we should also zealously decry, challenge, and prosecute those who cross the falsely shouting fire line. We should not blindly defend as “free speech” defend statements or actions that, as Justice Holmes aptly noted, cause a clear and present danger.”