Which type of speech is excluded from First Amendment protection?

The First Amendment protects a wide array of speech, but there are certain categories of speech that are excluded from this protection. Obscenity and fighting words are two such categories.

Obscenity refers to material that meets a specific legal definition, which originated from the Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. California. This definition outlines that for something to be considered obscene, it must appeal to the prurient interest, depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Because obscenity is deemed to have no redeeming social value, it is not protected under the First Amendment.

Fighting words are defined as those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. This category of speech is considered to provoke a violent reaction, and because it has a direct tendency to incite harm, it does not receive First Amendment protection.

In contrast, political speech, symbolic speech, and commercial speech all have varying degrees of protection under the First Amendment. Political speech is particularly safeguarded as it is essential for a democracy, symbolic speech, such as protests or demonstrations, is protected as a form of self-expression, and commercial speech, while not