Opinion ID: 2499424
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Type of Speech: Public Issue Speech

Text: [¶ 64] The First Amendment does not offer all speech the same degree of protection. Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, 444-45, 126 S.Ct. 1951, 1973, 164 L.Ed.2d 689 (2006) (Breyer, J., dissenting). The degree of protection differs depending on whether the speech is political interest/public issue speech, commercial speech or government speech. Id. Additionally, certain categories of speech are afforded limited or no protection, such as obscenity, fighting words, defamation, and fraud. Stevens, 130 S.Ct. at 1584. [¶ 65] Speech on public issues or matters of public concern are classic forms of speech that lie at the heart of the First Amendment. Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York, 519 U.S. 357, 377, 117 S.Ct. 855, 867, 137 L.Ed.2d 1 (1997). The Supreme Court has consistently observed the central importance of protecting speech on public issues, which has led it to scrutinize carefully any restrictions on public issue picketing. Boos, 485 U.S. at 318, 108 S.Ct. at 1162; United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 180-81, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 1708-09, 75 L.Ed.2d 736 (1983); Police Dep't of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 33 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972). [¶ 66] Speech directed at abortion policy is public issue speech. See Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703, 714-15, 120 S.Ct. 2480, 2488-89, 147 L.Ed.2d 597 (2000); Schenck, 519 U.S. at 377, 117 S.Ct. at 867; Madsen, 512 U.S. at 762-64, 114 S.Ct. at 2523-25. The fact that the messages conveyed by those communications may be offensive to their recipients does not deprive them of constitutional protection. Hill, 530 U.S. at 715, 120 S.Ct. at 2488-89. As a general matter, we have indicated that in public debate our own citizens must tolerate insulting, and even outrageous, speech in order to provide `adequate breathing space to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.' Boos, 485 U.S. at 322, 108 S.Ct. at 1164 (quoting Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 56, 108 S.Ct. 876, 882, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988)). [¶ 67] OSA's speech is protected public issue speech, and based on these precedents, any restriction on that speech must be carefully scrutinized. We find that this level of protection must likewise be extended to the graphic photographs OSA chooses to use in its demonstrations. The Supreme Court has stated it will not expand the categories of speech that receive limited protection, such as obscenity, unless there is a demonstration of a longstanding American tradition forbidding such speech or expressive conduct. Stevens, 130 S.Ct. at 1585. In Stevens, a 2010 decision, the Court declined to decrease the level of protection to be given depictions of animal cruelty. Id. Even more recently, in 2011, the Court rejected an argument for decreased protection of video games available commercially to young children that contain violent images, including sexual assault and murder. Brown, 131 S.Ct. at 2734. The Stevens Court explained: The First Amendment's guarantee of free speech does not extend only to categories of speech that survive an ad hoc balancing of relative social costs and benefits. The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs. Our Constitution forecloses any attempt to revise that judgment simply on the basis that some speech is not worth it. The Constitution is not a document prescribing limits, and declaring that those limits may be passed at pleasure. Stevens, 130 S.Ct. at 1585 (quoting Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 178, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803)).