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Symbolic speech is a legal term in United States law used to describe actions that purposefully and discernibly convey a particular message or statement to those viewing it.〔("symbolic speech" ). ''Law Dictionary'', FindLaw.〕 Symbolic speech is recognized as being protected under the First Amendment as a form of speech, but this is not expressly written as such in the document. One possible explanation as to why the Framers did not address this issue in the Bill of Rights is because the primary forms for both political debate and protest in their time were verbal expression and published word, and they may have been unaware of the possibility of future people using non-verbal expression.〔Epstein, Lee and Walker, Thomas G. (1998) "Constitutional Law for a Changing America: rights, liberties, and justice" 3rd ed. pp. 258-280 Washington D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc.〕 Symbolic speech is distinguished from pure speech, which is the communication of ideas through spoken or written words or through conduct limited in form to that necessary to convey the idea. Although the First Amendment only limited the Congress, symbolic speech has also restricted state governments starting with ''Gitlow v. New York'' (1925). == O'Brien Test == While writing the majority opinion for United States v. O'Brien, Chief Justice Warren described a series of guidelines used to determine whether a law that restricts speech violates the First Amendment. These guidelines must remain neutral in relation to the subject of the speech at hand (i.e., a speech that criticizes government action and is believed to violate a law must be treated the same way as a speech under identical circumstance, but praises the government as opposed to criticizing.) The ''O'Brien'' test is not meant to be the absolute deciding factor in cases involving non-verbal speech, but an additional tool to invoke against prohibitions. The ''O'Brien'' Test is thus: The law in question must * be within the constitutional power of the government to enact. * further an important or substantial government interest. * * That interest must be unrelated to the suppression of speech (or "content neutral", as phrased in later cases) * * Prohibit no more speech than is essential to further that interest.〔United States v. Obrien--Supreme Court's Decision〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「symbolic speech」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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