Which case is commonly cited as recognizing freedom of speech and freedom of the press as fundamental rights?

• A. Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire
• B. Reno v. ACLU
• C. Gitlow v. New York
• D. Miller v. California

Answer: (C)

This hinges on the idea that protections in the Bill of Rights can be binding on state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment—the incorporation principle. Gitlow v. New York is the landmark case that first applied First Amendment protections of free speech and free press to the states, not just to the federal government.

In this case, Benjamin Gitlow was prosecuted under a New York criminal anarchy statute for publishing the Left-Wing Manifesto. The Supreme Court ruled that state governments could not abridge those fundamental liberties and that the First Amendment’s protections are binding on the states via due process of the Fourteenth Amendment. This established the principle of incorporation, making freedom of speech and freedom of the press foundational rights that state laws must respect.

The other cases deal with different aspects: Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire narrowed free speech by affirming the fighting-words doctrine, Reno v. ACLU dealt with free speech on the internet, and Miller v. California set standards for obscenity. None of those cases originally established that First Amendment freedoms are applied to the states in the same broad incorporation sense as Gitlow.