Limits to Freedom of Expression

Freedom of speech and the press is not entirely without limits. Speech that threatens the safety or rights of other citizens is not protected under the U.S. Constitution.

Disputes over pornography have also been the source of several important Court rulings on the First Amendment. In Roth v. U.S. (1957), the Court upheld a conviction for distributing obscene materials on the grounds that obscenity is not constitutionally-protected speech, so that states and communities are entitled to apply "community standards" to prohibit materials that are deemed to be "without redeeming social value."

On the other hand, the Court has also defended speech that some Americans find objectionable. In Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964), the Court began to extend First Amendment protections to pornographic magazines and films, suggesting that the "community standards" of the Roth case had to be the standards of the nation as a whole, not those of a particular town. Over the past forty years, pornography has become much more widely tolerated and available in the U.S., and courts have become more reluctant to uphold laws against pornography, with some exceptions, notably child pornography.