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Constitutional Law • First Amendment - Free Speech
CONLAW#128
Legal Definition
Fighting words (true threats) are unprotected speech, however, the Supreme Court has always found statutes regulating fighting words to be unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.
Plain English Explanation
Fighting words are a special kind of speech that the government doesn’t have to protect under the First Amendment. These are words that are so offensive or aggressive that they might make someone immediately start a fight or cause a big disturbance. Because fighting words can lead to violence, the government can technically regulate or punish them. But here's the tricky part: when the government makes laws to regulate fighting words, these laws often get struck down by the Supreme Court. This happens because the laws are usually written in a way that’s too vague (unclear about what exactly is illegal) or too broad (they might ban more speech than just fighting words). The Court is very careful about protecting free speech, so it makes sure that any law targeting speech has to be very specific and clear. As a result, even though fighting words aren't protected, laws about them don’t often hold up in court.
Hypothetical
Hypo 1: Bob is walking down the street in Hypofornia and sees Sam. Bob gets angry and yells, "I'm going to knock you out right now!" Sam feels threatened and punches Bob before Bob can do anything. Bob is arrested for making threats. Result: Bob’s words might be considered “fighting words” because they were likely to cause an immediate fight. However, if Hypofornia has a law banning threats like this, the court will look closely to see if the law is too vague or too broad. If the law is too general and could punish people for saying things that aren’t really threats, it might be struck down, even though Bob’s specific words could be punished.
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