Fighting Words: Individuals, Communities, and Liberties of Speech

(Paperback)

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Should "hate speech" be made a criminal offense, or does the First Amendment oblige Americans to permit the use of epithets directed against a person's race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, or sexual preference Does a campus speech code enhance or degrade democratic values When someone burns an American flag or a draft card to express dismay with U.S. policy, what rights of free speech are involved Are there dangers in fostering reverence for the flag In a lucid and balanced analysis of contemporary court cases dealing with these problems, as well as those of obscenity and workplace harassment, the acclaimed First Amendment scholar Kent Greenawalt now addresses a broad general audience of readers interested in the most current free-speech issues. For a number of purposes, Greenawalt finds it instructive to compare U.S. and Canadian jurisprudence. He points out, for instance, that the theory under which the Canadian Supreme Court supports suppression of obscenity is strikingly in line with the claims of those feminists who regard obscenity as a major evil: equality, especially the aspirations to equality of groups victimized in the past, rates highly as a constitutional value in Canada. In addition to discussing the sometimes conflicting claims of those seeking freedom of speech and those working to promote equality and protect citizens from oppression, Greenawalt looks at what speech does as well as what it says. He also compares the importance of the motive of the speaker to the actual effect of speech on its audience.

Reviews

"Greenawalt's ... even-handed treatment of the relevant opinions and his reasoned support for a powerful free speech principle is a welcome change from the hectoring tone that often creeps into First Amendment debates... Fighting Words is a wonderful book. With its publication, the era of serious comparative constitutional jurisprudence has begun."--Burt Neuborne, New York Law Journal "Everyone interested in contemporary debates about law, free speech, or democratic society should read ... Fighting Words... [It] is an important book because it breaks a popular American conception that the First Amendment is an absolute... Greenawalt opens the reader's mind to various legal alternatives regarding free expression."--Archon Fung, The Boston Book Review "[A] thought-provoking, well-reasoned, and well-balanced analysis of the similarities and contrasts on issues of free speech between the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the Bill of Rights and the Supreme Court of Canada's construction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms... Required reading for scholars and laypeople alike."--Choice

Author Bio

Kent Greenawalt is University Professor at Columbia University and a member of the faculty of the School of Law. He is the author of numerous works including Speech, Crime, and the Uses of Language and Religious Convictions and Political Choice.