Реферат: Mitchell V Wisconsin Essay Research Paper

the capacity to make such judgements. Fourth, without the expression

of opinions generally deemd unacceptable by society, society tends to

forget why those opinions were deemed unacceptable in the first place.

(More specifically, nothing makes a skinhead seem more stupid than

allowing him to voice his opinion under the scrutiny of a national

television audience.) Finally, when society allows the free

expression of all ideas, regardless of its disdain for those ideas, it

is a sign of strength. So when a society uses all its power to

suppress ideas, it is certainly a sign of that society?s weakness

(Gellman, (381-385).

The United States Supreme Court?s unanimous decision in Wisconsin v.

Mitchell is incorrect for a number of reasons. Constitutionally, the

decision fails to comply with the freedom of speech guaranteed in the

First Amendment, and the guarantee to all citizens of equal protection

under the laws, listed in the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision also

arguably overturns R.A.V. v. St. Paul, and suggests that the Court may

be leaning towards a new ?fighting words doctrine?, where unpopular

speech equals unprotected speech. The decision also damages societ as

a whole in ways that are simply immeasureable in their size, such as

those listed in the preceding paragraph. Wisconsin v. Mitchell is a

terribly flawed Supreme Court decision, which one can only hope will

be overturned in the very near future.

?The freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter

much. That would be a mere sahdow of a freedom. The test of its

substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of

the existing order.

?If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it

is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be

orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of