Commercial Speech as Free Expression
The Case for First Amendment Protection

A bold, controversial advance in the theory of free expression, grounded in a new underlying theoretical perspective, for a dramatic extension of commercial speech protection.

Martin H. Redish (Author)

9781108417402, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 June 2021

250 pages
23.6 x 15.7 x 1.4 cm, 0.42 kg

For many years, commercial speech was summarily excluded from First Amendment protection, without reason or logic. Starting in the mid-1970s, the Supreme Court began to extend protection but it remained strictly limited. In recent years, that protection has expanded, but both Court and scholars have refused to consider treating commercial speech as the First Amendment equivalent of traditionally protected expressive categories such as political speech or literature. Commercial Speech as Free Expression stands as the boldest statement yet for extending full First Amendment protection to commercial speech by proposing a new, four-part synthesis of different perspectives on the manner in which free expression fosters and protects expressive values. This book explains the complexities and subtleties of how the equivalency principle would function in real-life situations. The key is to recognize that as a matter of First Amendment value, commercial speech deserves treatment equivalent to that received by traditionally protected speech.

1. Commercial speech and the values of free expression
2. False commercial speech and the first amendment
3. The right of publicity, commercial speech, and the equivalency principle
4. Compelled commercial speech and the first amendment
5. Scientific expression and commercial speech: the problem of product health claims
Conclusion: Making the case for first amendment equivalence.

Subject Areas: Freedom of information law [LNDF], Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Laws of Specific jurisdictions [LN], Law [L]