The Supreme Court gave free speech a major win today. It came in a case dealing with the granting of trademarks by the Patent Office. A rock group called The Slants was denied a trademark on the ground that the name disparaged others and was offensive. The group fought the ruling and has now won. The Court ruled that the government cannot limit the speech of the trademark applicants on the basis that it considers the trademark to disparage others. And make no mistake about it; this was not a close decision. The court ruled unanimously by a vote of 8-0 (Justice Gorsuch did not take part in the case which was argued before he was sworn in.)
The biggest impact of this decision is the major blow that it strikes against the PC police who want to censor everything from t-shirts to team names. Remember, in 2014, the Obama administration rejected the trademarks for the Washington Redskins on the basis of the same law which has now been rejected by the Supreme Court. The Redskins ought to have clear trademarks for that name again in short order. If I want to trademark "Crooked Hillary", "The Orange Oopa-Loompa", the "Loony Left", "Fascists for Trump", "Secular Christians" or even "Radical Islamic Terrorists", there will no longer be any problem from the Trademark and Patent Office. Offensive speech cannot be stopped by the government. That's an important part of free speech.
It would be nice to think that some of the campus liberal fascists who try to squelch free speech will hear this decision and change their ways. I doubt it will happen, but it certainly ought to.
The biggest impact of this decision is the major blow that it strikes against the PC police who want to censor everything from t-shirts to team names. Remember, in 2014, the Obama administration rejected the trademarks for the Washington Redskins on the basis of the same law which has now been rejected by the Supreme Court. The Redskins ought to have clear trademarks for that name again in short order. If I want to trademark "Crooked Hillary", "The Orange Oopa-Loompa", the "Loony Left", "Fascists for Trump", "Secular Christians" or even "Radical Islamic Terrorists", there will no longer be any problem from the Trademark and Patent Office. Offensive speech cannot be stopped by the government. That's an important part of free speech.
It would be nice to think that some of the campus liberal fascists who try to squelch free speech will hear this decision and change their ways. I doubt it will happen, but it certainly ought to.
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