Carol Daugherty Rasnic

The "Butt Art" Case: Obscenity, Fighting Words, Defamation, Indecency and the American Constitution Carol Daugherty Rasnic

This article discusses American constitutional freedom of speech. The U. S. Supreme Court has crafted exceptions to this protection, including communications that constitute a "clear and present danger"; "fighting words"; obscenity; and/or defamation, each which is elaborated upon herein. Additionally, there is a "hybrid" area of expression, for example, communications that require governmental regulation or which receive federal, state or local governmental financial funding, that the Court has held to be entitled to a limited, or restricted constitutional protection. A particular focus is the highlight upon a 2008 Virginia litigation involving a public school teacher's termination arising out his display and sale of his questionable art" The paper concludes with a brief summary of applicable Irish and German law, both constitutional and statutory, with a projection of how this case might have been decided, had the instance occurred there.