There are all sorts of laws which protect U.S. currency – we’re not supposed to burn it, deface it or copy it.  Now that money equals speech such restrictions on our speech come into conflict with one’s First Amendment rights.

Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code, says that “whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”

The Supreme Court has, at times, upheld symbolic expression.  Flag burning has been deemed to be protected while draft card burning has not always been protected.  When the Supreme Court has ruled against symbolic expression it has been when upholding the law “furthered an important governmental objective unrelated to the suppression of speech.”  So, on the surface one might expect that the Supreme Court would uphold Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code because, like with draft cards, the issuance of currency is an important government objective and protecting the nations currency is an act unrelated to the suppression of speech.

That was all true before the Supreme Court ruled that money is itself speech.  Since currency and speech cannot be separated, any law which restricts what someone can do with U.S. currency is a restriction that cannot be separated from the act of speech, therefore, just as with flag burning it should be protected.

Of course the only way to test if money truly equals speech it to create a test case… so go ahead; mutilate, cut, disfigure, perforate, unite, cement together, or engage in any other activity with your money that expresses your ideas and then tweet them using #MoneyEqualsSpeech.  Who knows, the government may take notice and your tweet could become evidence in a historic and landmark free speech case.