These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or ‘fighting’ words.”Ĭourt ruled that profanity can not be banned under the First Amendment New Hampshire: “There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which has never been thought to raise any Constitutional problem. Murphy assumed this position in his famous passage from the “fighting words” decision of C haplinsky v. Historically, profane words were considered blasphemous and punishable. Profanity has historically been considered punishable Under modern First Amendment jurisprudence profanity cannot categorically be banned but can be regulated in many situations. (Photo by Taber Andrew Bain, Creative Commons by 2.0) Here, a sign on GRTC Transit System Bus 84 in Richmond, Virginia reminds passengers that uttering profanities or obscenities on buses is prohibited conduct.
The courts have ruled that profanity can be regulated by government under certain circumstances consistent with the First Amendment.
