Free Speech and False Speech

This book examines the history of the legal discourse around political falsehood and its futurein the wake of the 2012 US Supreme Court decision inUS v. Alvarezthroughcommunication law, political philosophy, and communication theory perspectives. AsUS v. Alvarezconfirmed First Amendment protection for lies, Robert N. Spicer addresses how the ramifications of that decision function by looking at statutory and judicial handling of First Amendment protection for political deception. Illustrating howcommercial speech is regulated but political speech is not, Spicer evaluates the role ofdeception in politics and its consequences for democracy in a contemporary political environment where political personalities, partisan media, and dark money donors bend the truth and abuse the virtue of free expression.