Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: France arrests 54 in hate speech crackdown [View all]branford
(4,462 posts)30. The US Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights,
does indeed generally constrain government. However, as I indicated earlier, Constitutional principles can nevertheless affect laws governing private or quasi-private relations.
I refer back to my examples of American civil rights and labor law. Under the guise of equal protection and related provisions, the government has set limits on certain discriminatory speech and conduct in the private workplace (e.g., Title VII, ADA, ADEA, etc.) or protected speech concerning unionization and collective worker rights (e.g., NLRA).
As an aside, although this discussion is most interesting, I haven't given these issue such detailed scholarly thought since law school.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
34 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
France has long and tragic experience with hate speech. Their country, their country, their laws.
Fred Sanders
Jan 2015
#2
And..in other news... Charlie Hebdo Attack Committed By "Magical Shape Shifting Jews"
Rhinodawg
Jan 2015
#3
Thanks. There has to be a crime in order to have a hate crime. Speech may be associated
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#23
Generally true, however, when I looked into this issue about 15 or so years ago, Germans'
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#25
I believe that the American Bill of Rights restrains the government, while the German rights
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#27
Granted, I oversimplified, but in the US, the Constitutional protections of our rights apply to
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#29
Thanks. The article explains the difference and also explains how German law limits speech rights.
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#33
The ACLU and many decades of hard fought liberal and progressive legal victories
branford
Jan 2015
#14