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protected speech

Defined in 2 dictionaries — Case Law, U.S. Code

Definitions from Case Law

United States Supreme Court

Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea. That is why freedom of speech * * * is * * * protected against censorship or punishment, unless shown likely to produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance, or unrest.

Defined by the Supreme Court in - Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229 (1963).

United States Code

20 U.S.C. § 1011A — for the purposes of this section

The term “protected speech” means speech that is protected under the first and 14th amendments to the Constitution, or would be protected if the institution of higher education involved were subject to those amendments.