Abstract
The current Supreme Court is very protective of speech, including commercial speech. Threats to commercial speech persist nonetheless. This article briefly examines two: the use of commercial speech restrictions as a form of rent-seeking, and compelled commercial speech. Regulation of commercial speech is sometimes used to protect established corporate interests from competitors who are less able to bear the costs of regulation, with consequences that extend beyond the economic marketplace. In the case of commercial speech, courts have also been unduly deferential to claims of a consumer “right to know” as a basis for mandated labeling and disclosure. Greater and more consistent protection of commercial speech would be necessary to guard against these threats.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Publication Information
25 Journal of Law and Policy 289-316 (2016)
Repository Citation
Adler, Jonathan H., "Persistent Threats to Commercial Speech" (2016). Faculty Publications. 2340.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/2340
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Consumer Protection Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons
Comments
Written for the symposium Free Speech Under Fire: The Future of the First Amendment (2016) at Brooklyn Law School.