---
title: "Freedom of Speech"
type: Legal Term
source: https://casebriefly.com/legal-terms/freedom-of-speech
---

# Freedom of Speech

The First Amendment's Free Speech Clause protects expression from government restriction. Content-based restrictions on speech receive strict scrutiny, while content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions receive intermediate scrutiny. Certain narrow categories of speech — obscenity, true threats, incitement, fighting words — receive limited or no protection. The government may regulate speech in non-public forums with reasonable restrictions but has far less latitude in traditional public forums.

## Related Terms

- overbreadth-doctrine
- vagueness-doctrine
- defamation

## Related Cases

- brandenburg-v-ohio
- chaplinsky-v-new-hampshire
- new-york-times-v-sullivan
- virginia-v-black
- reed-v-town-of-gilbert

## Example

A city ordinance bans all political signs. As a content-based restriction on core political speech, this receives strict scrutiny and is likely unconstitutional.

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Source: [Freedom of Speech — CaseBriefly](https://casebriefly.com/legal-terms/freedom-of-speech)