In the Cohen v California case, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected the right to freedom of expression, even if that expression was considered offensive or vulgar. The case centered around a man named Paul Robert Cohen, who was arrested for wearing a jacket with the phrase. The California court found him guilty of "offensive conduct," but the Supreme Court overturned this decision, arguing that the government could not regulate speech based on its content.
In their decision, the Supreme Court stated that "one man's vulgarity is another's lyric" and that the government could not restrict speech simply because it found it offensive. The Cohen v California case is considered a landmark decision in the area of free speech and is often cited in debates about the limits of the First Amendment.