University of Missouri School of Law Scholarship Repository
Abstract
Freedom of speech is one of the best known of all the constitutional rights protected by the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech has received special attention from the courts for at least three reasons: (1) it is essential to the political process that is the foundation of our democracy;3 (2) it is fundamentally important to the discovery of truth in the free marketplace of ideas;4 and (3) it is an end in itself in a free country. In furtherance of a substantial interest, however, the freedom of speech falls subject to the police power of the state. In City of Ladue v. Gilleo, the Court was confronted with the task of balancing two competing interests: (1) the well-established authority of the State to regulate in furtherance of an aesthetic purpose; and (2) the right of a citizen to express her private political viewpoints while on her private property
