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 David Hudson serves as an attorney for the First
Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Center, which is funded
by the Freedom Forum, seeks to foster a greater public understanding and
appreciation for First Amendment rights and values. Hudson writes for the
Freedom Forum's online publication, The Freedom Forum Online, and other
leading publications devoted to First Amendment issues. He contributes regularly to
the American Bar Association's Preview of United
States Supreme Court Cases, the Commercial Speech
Digest and the ABA
Journal.
Commercial Speech and the so-called Commercial Speech Doctrine
represent an evolving area of First Amendment jurisprudence. Commercial
Speech - or in the words of the U.S. Supreme Court, speech
"which does no more than propose a commercial transaction" -
originally received no First Amendment protection.
The Supreme Court still relegates Commercial Speech to a
"subordinate status" as compared to other types of noncommercial
speech, such as political speech. However, some Justices, most forcefully
Justice Clarence Thomas, have questioned the distinction between Commercial
and Non-Commercial Speech.
This course will briefly examine the history of the Commercial
Speech Doctrine and discuss the leading test used by the courts to examine the
constitutionality of regulations that have an impact on Commercial Speech.
This course will also provide you with a series of examples from
real cases designed to strengthen your knowledge of this area of the law
and expose you to some of the leading issues.
Click here to take this course.
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