Week 2 – Hypothetical Cases (3)
1. In 1971, in a case called Cohen v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court protected the First
Amendment free-speech right of a man named Paul Robert Cohen to wear a jacket bearing
the words “Fuck the Draft” in the halls of a Los Angeles public courthouse during the
Vietnam War.
Apply three different theories of free speech discussed in Chapter 2 – in particular,
Meiklejohnian theory, the marketplace of ideas theory, and the theory of self-
realization/self-fulfillment – to make a cohesive and cogent argument that justifies and
explains why Cohen’s offensive and vulgar message deserves protection under the First
Amendment.
Answer:
In the case of Cohen vs. California, a young man was wearing a jacket containing the
words “Fuck the Draft” while entering the courthouse, however he had removed the
jacket while entering the actual courtroom. The man was arrested for offensive content
upon his jacket, even though the message portrayed was referring to the Vietnam war.
The man was sentenced to jail for 30 days before appearing in a higher court. The court
decided that his jacket with the profane language was offensive and would possibly lead
to protests at the courthouse. However, there was no reaction from those within the
