Fighting Words
Words that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace, which may be regulated under the First Amendment.
Fighting words is a category of speech recognized in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) as receiving no First Amendment protection. The Court defined them as 'those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.'
The fighting words doctrine has been significantly narrowed since Chaplinsky. Courts have held that general profanity does not constitute fighting words, that the doctrine applies only to face-to-face communications likely to cause immediate violence, and that it cannot be applied in a viewpoint-discriminatory manner.
In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992), the Supreme Court held that even within the fighting words category, the government cannot selectively prohibit words based on viewpoint — for example, prohibiting only fighting words based on race while allowing fighting words based on political affiliation.
The fighting words doctrine is rarely applied in modern cases. Its practical scope has been so limited by subsequent decisions that it seldom provides a constitutional basis for speech restrictions.