Equality as a Central Principle in the First Amendment

The ideal of equality runs deep in the American tradition.' A just society, we believe, must offer "equal liberties ' 2 in the realm of political participation. Within the past generation, this tradition has flowered into a number of new constitutional doctrines, aimed at effectuating the ideal of political equality.3 In the aggregate, these doctrines mark the emergence of a principle of equal liberty of expression, not merely in the political arena, but throughout all the interdependent "decisionmaking" processes of a complex society.4 A natural doctrinal vehicle for promoting the principle of equal liberty of expression is the guarantee of equal protection of the laws.In a number of recent cases involving first amendment interests, the