[lbo-talk] Re: "Freedom" of fascist speech is an absurdity

[andie nachgeborenen]

This a really classical law school exam question to
which there is no clear answer, but I suspect that
police interference might not be impermissible
regulation.  First of all, is the lawyer speaking, and
are the fascists acting, in a public forum -- a park,
say? Therre is more scope there for all sorts of
speech than in, say, private property (where there is
essentially none) or in quasi public places. Second,
Is a permit required for the speech or demo, and does
either party have one if it is? Reasonable time place
and manner regulations that are content free are
permitted by the 1A. E.g., I can campaign for
communism, but not in a loud sound truck at midnight.
Relatedly, are the cops trying to preserve order or
are they attacking the fascists because of what they
are saying? Finally, are the fsacists just making a
hullabaloo or are they thretaening physical attack,
blocking the roadway, creating a riot, or otherwise in
violation of the law?

--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> Carrol Cox wrote:
> 
> >Free speech _means_ no state interference. It has
> no other meaning. Do
> >not use it in any other sense because if you do you
> will cause
> >confusion.
> 
> Since you seem to have unique possession of the
> Dictionary of Clear 
> Thought and Speech, could you look this one up for
> me: what if a gang 
> of fascist thugs tries to prevent, say, a black
> Leninist lawyer from 
> Detroit from speaking by shouting him down? Should
> the cops intervene 
> to allow him to speak? If they did, would that be
> state interference 
> in the freedom of fascists to shout? If they didn't,
> is that state 
> inaction interfering with freedom of speech?
> 
> Yours truly,
> 
> Confused in NYC
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> 

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