The core of the 1st amendment guarantee of free speech has always been political. Yet here we are today in a confusing situation where recent rulings have granted more protection to peripheral activities like nude dancing than to core issues of political speech. Both activities have opponents and both justify their actions on corruption, in the case of strip joints it's moral and societal corruption, in the case of political speech it's an appearance of political corruption that is the great charge.
I would suggest that every blue stocking Comstock prude in the country should be heading to the courthouse door and filing on repeats of their earlier defeats on the grounds that peripheral free speech activities cannot reasonably be protected with more vigilence and fidelity than core political speech at the heart of the 1st amendment. The SC's ruling is horrible but I don't think we've seen the worst of it yet.
Posted by TMLutas at December 12, 2003 03:43 PM