Your Weekly Constitutional

There are many laws regulating advertising. But, wait – advertising is speech. Isn’t such speech protected by the First Amendment? How does the government get away with regulating it? The government even regulates how people describe themselves, at least professionally. It's typically illegal, for example, to call yourself a doctor or a lawyer unless you've actually gone through some sort of licensing process. But, again, don't you have a right to describe yourself as you see fit? Attorney Mary Lou Serafine thinks so. The State of Texas threatened to penalize her when she called herself a psychologist without obtaining a Texas license to that effect. Law professor Tamara Piety disagrees. She thinks that there is room for regulation of commercial speech, including professional speech. It's quite a debate. Join us!