The girl is not the government. Cleveland State is a state school so they have 1st Amendment concerns.

Yeah, the crux of this article is that, in America, state universities are bound by the first amendment to the US constitution, which prevents the US government (and therefore, state entities like public universities) from punishing speech based on its content.

Okay, but what happens when the white supremacists go to the Student Life office to request permission to hang their poster, permission is denied, and the university is sued for breaking the First Amendment?

Hate speech laws are dangerous as well. Often or not, the judges in power often get to decide what constitutes “hate speech”. So in this case, if we had hate speech laws, Republican judges and Trump nominees would get to say “yup, that’s hate speech”.

Also, as much as people chant “hate speech is not free speech,” that’s simply not true, from a legal perspective.

I don’t think it passes the Brandenburg test, either. But I would argue that it should not fall under First Amendment protections when it is narrowly targeted and there is a threat to intimidate, especially against vulnerable groups.

Agreed. Morally repugnant. The constitution’s solution to that is the “marketplace of ideas.” Bad ideas should, in theory, be responded to and drowned out by good ideas. The problem is the 25% of the population who have abandoned the responsibilities of shared government and society in order to punish those they blame…

Under the first amendment, the conduct has to be inciting clear and present danger. The danger must be imminent. You can pretty much say all the disgusting shit you want in this country up until the point when it becomes foreseeable that someone may act on the basis of your words in the immediate future. Courts use a…

I don’t think encouraging suicide constitutes incitement.

I think the administration’s response was tepid, but as a state institution, they’re pretty constrained here.

Personally, my kids wouldn't mind if those Tim Allen movies didn't exist.