Political Speech and the 1st Amendment - Explained
What is Political Speech under the 1st Amendment?
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 21st, 2024
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What is Political Speech?
Political speech includes any form of speech concerning politics, including the spending or donation of money to political campaigns or undertaking political activism.
Individuals and corporations are entitled to only limited protection of political speech.
How is Political Speech protected under the 1st Amendment?
Political contributions by individuals or entities may be subject to regulation. Individuals and businesses are limited in the amount of funds that they can contribute to political candidates for federal office and certain groups that donate to political candidates.
Historically, corporations were also limited in their ability to directly fund or undertake political activism.
The issue of direct spending in elections came to the forefront in the case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In this case, the court held that corporations hold rights similar to those of individuals with regard to political speech.
As such, many of the existing regulations of the amount of funds or activity that a corporation may spend or undertake with regard to political campaigns were held invalid.
This case did not, however, affect the legal limits on individuals and organizations to make contributions directly to candidates and groups dedicated to making contributions to candidates.
- Note: These provisions apply to federal elections and not state elections. Also, there is currently no limit on the amount of money that an individual or corporation can make to independent-expenditure-only committees, also known as Super-Pacs. These groups spend directly on political activity in support of particular candidates.
- Example: A state passes a law that limits the amount of money that citizens and corporations can give directly to state politicians running for office. While giving money is a type of expression that is protected under the 1st Amendment, this restriction upon individual rights aimed at preserving the integrity of the election system may be constitutional.
Related Concepts
- What is the 1st Amendment?
- What are the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause
- How does freedom of religion affect business practice?
- What is the protection of Freedom of Speech?
- Speech with Limited or No Protection
- What is Obscene Speech?
- What are Fighting Words?
- What is Commercial Speech?
- What is Defamation?
- Overbreadth and Overly Broad Laws
- Freedom of the Press
- Freedom of Assembly