Fuller, director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition and assistant professor of journalism, notes in the WRAL report that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld similar free speech protections in earlier rulings.
Recent coverage of a dispute in an eastern North Carolina city over a resident’s expletive-laden flag includes insights from Brooks Fuller, director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition and assistant professor of journalism.
The recent segment by WRAL in Raleigh focuses on the push by some in a Wilson, N.C., neighborhood to remove one resident’s flag that uses expletives to protest President Joe Biden. The flag has sparked debate online with residents complaining that they should not be subjected to the language on the flag.
Fuller explained for the report that any action the city might take is limited by a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a Vietnam War protestor who was charged with disorderly conduct for wearing a jacket with an expletive on it in public.
“The Supreme Court said one man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric, and that’s protected First Amendment expression,” Fuller said.
Watch the full report here.