Constitutional Law
Mar. 17, 2011
Hard Cases Can Make Good Law
In a difficult case, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms a long-standing principle of the First Amendment. By Erwin Chemerinsky of UC Irvine School of Law.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
Every law student knows the adage that hard cases make bad law. But the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Snyder v. Phelps, 2011 DJDAR 3307, (March 2) is a case with emotionally difficult facts that got it exactly right. The most basic principle of the First Amendment is that speech cannot be punished or held liable because it is offensive, even deeply offensive. In Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court in an 8-1 decisio...
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