Meg Mott: What does the First Amendment Ask of Us?

The right to protest is one of the people’s most fundamental freedoms, but what about speech that veers toward lawlessness or social disorder? During most of the 20^th century, governments put speakers in jail for creating a “clear and present danger.” Under that rule, Eugene Debs went to prison for denouncing the first World War and Charlotte Whitney went to jail for belonging to the Communist Party.  As far as the government was concerned, their sentences were too dangerous to be heard in public.

In 1969, the Supreme Court changed the rule. Only words that caused “immanent lawless action” could be suppressed. In the Brandenburg decision, the ACLU successfully defended a Klansman, giving all of us greater freedom from government prosecution. The Black and Jewish advocates who came to the aid of Clarence Brandenburg were able to see the principles of free speech beyond his racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric.

The question for us post-Brandenburg  is, How can we love the principle even when we don’t like the speech?

Co-sponsored by Windham World Affairs, Vermont Humanities, The Commons, Vermont Independent Media: Voices Live, and Brattleboro Community Television.