Arguing that exempting "low-value" speech that causes emotional distress from constitutional protection will often provide a weapon in the hands of those in the majority against dissenters, CCL President Robert S. Peck took up a debate with a fellow blogger on the Appellate Advocacy Blog, a feature of the Law Professor Blogs Network. 

     A week earlier, Adam Lamparello, an associate professor at Indiana Tech Law School, provocatively advocated that brutalizing speech should be subject to regulation. Peck responded by describing instances where anti-racism demonstrations were the object of attempted censorship because of the discomfort it transmits to those in power who may not be combating it. Peck noted that today's controversies over critical race theory and LBGQT expressions arise because majorities believe that their communication constitutes an attack on traditional values.

     Peck also pointed out that free speech has a safety-valve function that allows the expression of disturbing thoughts so that it does not retreat to the underground, where it can fester unimpaired by counter-speech and emerge surprisingly and in more virulent form.