Courtesy of Dan Gottlieb

White supremacist groups say theyre intent on holding more rallies and protests around the country. Thats after a rally in Charlottesville turned violent, resulting in many injuries and one womansdeath.

Some universities say they wont allow white nationalists and supremacists to rally on or near their campuses due to concerns over safety andsecurity.

That includes Michigan State University, which last weekdenied a request to come on campus from a group led by white nationalist ringleader RichardSpencer.

Spencer claims thats a violation of his First Amendmentrights.

And weve been hearing a lot from these hate groups in recent months about a perceived violation of their right to free speech.

What speech is protected under the First Amendment and what isnt? Is it important that these groups are able to demonstrate as long as they dont turnviolent?

Richard Primus is aconstitutional law expert and professor at theUniversity of Michigan Law School. He joins Detroit Today to talk about thosequestions.

Nobody thinks the founders didnt think, and the courts have never thought that the freedom of speech means the freedom to say any words you want under any circumstances in any way at any time, saysPrimus.

What the government is not supposed to do is repress speech for the purpose of preventing the dissemination of an idea, he says. The questions that are most relevant in things like the Charlottesville scenario are about the line between speech thats the conveying of an idea intended to be offered to persuade people and speech that is actually a set of actions designed not to persuade,but tointimidate.

Jake Neher/WDET

ShikhaDalmia

Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia and Lansing State Journal columnist Judy Putnam also join the show to continue the conversation and talk about MSUs decision, which Putnam says put safety over bravery in a recentcolumn.

Dalmia has written in Reason Magazine about her defense of First Amendment Absolutismas well as the University of California-Berkleys decision to cancel right-wing provocateurMilo Yiannopoulos speech earlier this year after his scheduled appearance sparked violentprotests.

I dont believe in content-based restrictions on free speech, even hate speech, saysDalmia.

I think the American model of free speech is correct that the antidote to hate speech is more speech. Free speech is a great disinfectant to badideas.

However, Dalmia defends MSUs decision, largely because there was no invitation from the university or any student groups to have the group oncampus.

Click on the audio player above to hear the fullconversation.

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The First Amendment and Hate Groups Should They Be Free to Rally? - WDET