'Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment,' Portland mayor says. He's wrong. [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

It's not that hard.

‘Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment,’ Portland mayor says. He’s wrong.

By Kristine Phillips May 30 at 2:17 PM

As his city mourns two men who were killed after confronting a man screaming anti-Muslim slurs, Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) is calling on federal officials to block what he called “alt-right demonstrations” from happening in downtown Portland, Ore.

His concern is that the two rallies, both scheduled in June, will escalate an already volatile situation in Portland by peddling “a message of hatred and of bigotry.” Although the organizers of the rallies have a constitutional right to speak, “hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment,” Wheeler told reporters.

But history and precedent are not on Wheeler's side. ... The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that hate speech, no matter how bigoted or offensive, is free speech.

The high court did so in 1969, when it found that a state law banning public speech that advocates for illegal activities violated the constitutional rights of a Ku Klux Klan leader. ... It did so again in 1992, when the justices unanimously found that hateful acts such as burning a cross on a black family's lawn are protected by the First Amendment. ... And again in 2011, when the court ruled in favor of church members who picketed and carried signs with homophobic slurs at a soldier's funeral.

{Portland mayor asks feds to bar free-speech and anti-sharia rallies after stabbings}
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Kristine Phillips is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post. Contact her at [e-mail]. Follow @kristinegWP