George Carlin's famously dirty '7 Words' joke led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that determined broadcasters could be penalized for obscene content.

Carlin’s famous bit lampooned FCC regulations on obscenity. Ironically, he performed it on TV during his HBO special, “Again!” in 1978.

When the Federal Communications Committee attempted to rein in giveaway shows, the Supreme Court ruled that quiz shows were not a form of gambling because contestants did not have to risk anything to participate. Some believe that the ruling prevented proper oversight of the industry as it became more popular.

In Schenck v. United States (1919), the court introduced the "clear and present danger" test—permitting the government to restrict speech that posed an immediate threat to public safety. Although the doctrine was later replaced, the ruling upheld the conviction of a man who had distributed anti-draft pamphlets.

Bruce came up in burlesque theaters, but began to find success as stand-up comedy developed a more political and subversive bent. His sets often satirized what he believed to be an oppressively conformist society, which led to his arrest on several occasions.

The first was in 1961, after performing at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. Subsequent arrests were in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. He died of a morphine overdose in 1966, a year and a half after being found guilty of his New York charge.

The rapper Afroman, who earned jokey hits in the '90s with songs like "Because I Got High," was taken into court by police officers by police officers in Adams County, Ohio, who alleged that he'd defamed them in his songs. The music in question was recorded after those officers raided his house and satirized the situation, often in graphic terms. The rapper beat the case, but not before his satirical songs were analyzed in court.

While it was on the air, “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” was a prime outlet for stand-up comedy. Getting invited over to Carson’s couch meant he’d enjoyed the set—and that the comic was destined for great success.

The network was looking to correct the public perception that its programming was fraudulent, so it banned laugh tracks and fake applause from its broadcasts. The policy didn’t last long; within a few years, sitcoms were regularly “sweetened” with the sound effects.

While profane language is frowned upon in many circumstances, it remains an important part of human expression. This article explores the history of taboo words, and how they eventually creeped more into the mainstream. From 19th century Irish folk-saying “bejabbers,” to the dirty language in comedy routines by Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, discover a brief history of the swear words that have now become more prevalent in society.

A Ku Klux Klan leader's conviction for a threatening speech prompted the Supreme Court in 1969 to rule that speech is punishable as incitement only if it is directed at—and likely to produce—imminent lawless action.

The poem’s portraits of people on society's fringes—including vivid descriptions of drug use, psychiatric wards, and homosexuality—led to its seizure by US Customs agents and the arrest of its publisher Ferlinghetti. The American Civil Liberties Union defended both in a landmark trial that ruled the book was not obscene.

The 1964 case arose when an Alabama official sued The New York Times over a civil rights advertisement he claimed was defamatory. The ruling makes it very difficult for public officials to win libel suits against the press unless they can prove deliberate falsehood.

This page explains the categories of speech—including defamation, incitement, true threats, fraud, and obscenity—the Supreme Court has placed outside First Amendment protection and how courts determine which standard to apply when speech is challenged.

Stand-up comedy was already on television in the 1970s thanks to Johnny Carson, but comics were limited to clean sets that typically lasted five minutes. HBO, on the other hand, offered stand-ups the opportunity to air their unadulterated material like they would at a club.

G. Clifford Prout founded the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, saying that animal nudity was rude and immoral. The campaign continued for years until CBS employees realized Prout was actually a comedian named Buck Henry.

When some members of the Westboro Baptist Church, carrying inflammatory signs, picketed the funeral of a fallen Marine, his father sued but lost. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the protest addressed matters of public concern and was protected by the First Amendment.

Many viewers were attracted to the shows because they were filled with real people winning real money. After it was exposed that “Dotto,” “Twenty-One,” “The $64,000 Question,” and others had been fixed, the genre struggled to regain viewers’ trust. The government intervened, too: President Eisenhower called the shows’ deception “a terrible thing to do to the American people” and Congress amended the Communications Act in 1960, explicitly outlawing fraudulent game shows.

In West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the EPA exceeded its authority by requiring industrywide carbon cuts. Chief Justice Roberts' opinion invoked the "major questions" doctrine, which limits the ability of federal agencies to act without explicit congressional approval.

Passed as part of the Communications Decency Act, Section 230 shields online platforms from legal liability for user-generated content while allowing them to moderate it and host speech freely, making it one of the most debated laws governing free expression today.

In Texas v. Johnson (1989), the court held, 5-4, that flag burning is a form of symbolic political expression protected by the First Amendment—one of the most controversial free-speech rulings in American history.

The game—which forced contestants who answered questions incorrectly to face "consequences" in the form of wacky stunts—debuted in 1941 with a one-off experimental broadcast on WNBT, then reappeared on NBC in 1950. In 1956, a fresh-faced Bob Barker made his television debut as the show's new host.

In August 1974, following a unanimous Supreme Court ruling, the White House released the "smoking gun" tape—revealing Nixon's role in the cover-up. Watch the CBS News report from Aug. 5, 1974, detailing the fallout from the release of the tapes.

In his landmark dissent in Abrams v. United States, Justice Holmes argued that the best way to combat harmful ideas is through open competition—a principle that became foundational to modern First Amendment law.

This podcast examines how American free speech protections evolved—from the Founders' debates to landmark Supreme Court rulings—and why the country arrived at one of the most expansive speech regimes in the world.

In 2020, US District Court Judge Analisa Torres overturned the 1948 Supreme Court ruling that broke up the studio system—effectively allowing the film industry to become vertically integrated once again—with companies like Amazon and Disney taking advantage of the relaxed regulations.

On Oct. 20, 1973, President Nixon ordered the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox—prompting the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus. This NBC News Special Report shows the immediate aftermath of the decision.

1948's landmark United States v. Paramount Pictures found that the "Big Five" studios violated antitrust laws, effectively ending the reign of the vertically integrated system and the golden age of Hollywood.

The show, which aired on both CBS and NBC in slightly different iterations in 1958, followed a fairly standard question-and-answer format, with correct answers slowly revealing an image that contestants needed to solve. Despite its popularity, the show was canceled after it was revealed that one contestant had been provided with answers to the questions. That revelation led to similar scandals with four more shows over the next few months.

The famous painting, which portrays a man in work clothes speaking up in a crowd of men in suits, has become a companion image for internet users posting unpopular or controversial opinions.

In 1957, a bomb exploded under the front porch of boxing promoter Don King in Cleveland. When police received a tip to search Dollree Mapp's home, she refused to let them in. Her case went to the Supreme Court, resulting in a ruling that barred illegally obtained evidence from state criminal trials.

An episode of the HBO show "Vinyl" featured a scene with a woman walking down a New York street and passing by a dumpster tagged by graffiti artist Itoffee Gayle. Gayle filed suit against the network, despite not owning the dumpster, claiming that the network had violated his copyright and trademark rights by including his work in the show without his permission. The court sided with HBO, saying that Gayle's claims "bordered on frivolous."

The Supreme Court's 2010 decision struck down limits on independent political expenditures by corporations and other organizations, ruling that such spending is protected speech—a decision that was deeply contested and reshaped campaign finance law.

In 1971, Canadian radio stations were required to ensure their programming included at least 30% Canadian artists. The impact was both cultural and commercial, with Canadian artists gaining more visibility at home and Canadian studios and songwriters earning more pay.

First aired in 1976, "I'm Just a Bill" became a defining civics lesson for generations, using animation and humor to trace the legislative process and cement itself as a lasting piece of US political culture.

Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was hoping to modernize the city and believed that street performers only crowded the streets and added to an annoying cacophony. Residents wrote to the mayor to protest the decision, arguing that buskers were appreciated by the public.