Is Free Speech All That It is Cracked Up To Be?

[User.191]

As long as you do not violate the rights of others, and do not offend, you have the right to free speech

Actually the right of free speech includes the right to offend other people. In Matal vs Tam (2017) SCOTUS decided as much in an unanimous ruling in which Alito referenced Brennan in Texas v Johnson (1889) where Justice Brennan stated: “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”