Gitlow v. New York (1925) is known for protecting which type of speech and applying it to the states through incorporation?

• A. Political speech
• B. Commercial speech
• C. Obscene speech
• D. Seditious speech

Answer: (A)

The main idea is how free-speech protections are extended to state governments through incorporation. Gitlow v. New York established that the First Amendment’s protections, especially for political speech, bind the states via the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause. The case involved a pamphlet urging political reform, and while the Court upheld the state’s punishment under a criminal-anarchy law, it also declared that the First Amendment limits state action as well as federal action. In other words, political speech—the kind that directly concerns government and public policy—receives strong protection and cannot be freely suppressed by states simply because it advocates change. The other types of speech mentioned aren’t what this decision centers on, and they follow different doctrinal paths.