In most of the places where this column appears, the four-letter words it contains will not be spelled out. Instead, they will be rendered as initial letters followed by dashes.

That custom is an example of self-restraint by newspapers and Web sites that do not want to offend their readers. It is not the result of government censorship, which would violate the First Amendment.

Yet, as a case the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear illustrates, different rules apply to broadcas ...

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