Non-commercial speech

Overview[]

Non-commercial speech receives the highest degree of First amendment protection. But, the government may still regulate certain aspects of that speech provided it meets certain requirements. In evaluating non-commercial speech, the courts distinguish between content-based restrictions and content-neutral restrictions. As with the distinction between commercial and non-commercial speech, “[d]eciding whether a particular regulation is content-based or content-neutral is not always a simple task.”^[1]

References[]

↑ Turner Broad. Sys. v. Federal Comm. Comm’n, 512 U.S. 622, 642 (1994)(full-text). A content-based restriction, for example, would be a restriction that prohibited the publication of all political advertisements. A viewpoint-based restriction, which is a subset of a content-based restriction, would be a restriction that prohibited the publication of a political advertisement advocating a certain political party or idea. By contrast, an example of a content-neutral restriction would be a restriction that prohibited any advertising inside federal offices.

[1] Turner Broad. Sys. v. Federal Comm. Comm’n, 512 U.S. 622, 642 (1994)(full-text). A content-based restriction, for example, would be a restriction that prohibited the publication of all political advertisements. A viewpoint-based restriction, which is a subset of a content-based restriction, would be a restriction that prohibited the publication of a political advertisement advocating a certain political party or idea. By contrast, an example of a content-neutral restriction would be a restriction that prohibited any advertising inside federal offices.

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