Introduction

The events that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017 thrust the discussion of hate speech and the Constitution into the national conversation. Both the violence and intentions of the white nationalist/supremacist groups were widely condemned across the political spectrum. However, there have been active voices (including the ACLU) who stand by the principle of free speech, even when that speech itself is hateful in nature.

In a society that consistently invokes First Amendment rights, the question remains: should hate speech be amongst those forms of speech entitled to constitutional protection?

In this deliberation, students will have the opportunity to explore Supreme Court cases and contemporary situations in the United States that have brought hate speech to the forefront of American political debate. Students will explore the context for the court decisions, assess the impact of those decisions on subsequent instances of hate speech, and attempt to determine where they believe the line should be drawn between unprotected and protected speech when that speech is hateful in nature.

Objectives and Outcomes

• Students will identify and contextualize the legal and historical definition of the term “hate speech.”
  
  
• Students will summarize the key legal precedents that have emerged in recent years regarding hate speech cases.
  
  
• Students will deliberate over whether free speech was rightfully protected through case studies dealing specifically with the topic of hate speech