First Amendment Right to Anonymous Free Speech Articles / CyberLaw Posted by admin on Feb 11, 2009 - 04:53 AM In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commn., 514 U.S. 334 (Supreme Court of the United States, 1995), a woman was fined in violation of the Ohio Elections Commission Code for composing, printing, and distributing anonymous campaign literature which expressed her views on a proposed school tax. The Supreme Court held: "Under our Constitution, anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation -- and their ideas from suppression -- at the hand of an intolerant society." This article is from CyberLaw Info (tm): CyberLaw, Entertainment Law, Intellectual Property Law & Litigation   http://www.cyberlaw.info/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.cyberlaw.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=109