From a Business Pursuit to a Means Of Expression: The Supreme Court's Disputes Over Commercial Speech From 1942 to 1976

Protection for commercial speech has taken a serendipitous route between 1942, when the Supreme Court held that it lay outside First Amendment protection, to 1976, when it was finally granted that protection. The rulings of the Court often reflected the culture of the times and the attitudes of government and society toward advertising. In large part, it was the writings of Justice William O. Douglas that became the foundations of Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, providing protection for purely commercial advertising.