Not all speech is protected. Speech that does not fall under the protection of the First Amendment includes fighting words, harassment, obscenity, incitement to imminent lawless action or true threats. The courts determine on a case-by-case basis whether speech falls within one of these exceptions and judge speech using high thresholds that err on the side of protecting speech. In fact, the Supreme Court has upheld freedom of speech even in the face of a speaker’s utmost efforts to offend.