How to Summarize a Case
•Heading: Appropriate legal citation (case
reporter)
•Facts: Essential facts of the case and the legal
history up to the granting of certiorari
•Issue(s): The legal issue(s) raised on appeal
•Decision: The vote and the rationale for the
prevailing opinon
•Dissent(s)
•Rule of Law: The legal principle(s) derived
from the case as precedent
Freedom of Speech
and
Freedom of the Press:
Sedition and Censorship
Sedition
Sedition Act of 1918 = upheld in a number of decisions,
including Schenck and Abrams, but lapses in 1920s
Smith Act of 1940 = “advocate, abet, advise, or teach the
duty , necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or
destroying the government of the United States…”
upheld, in principle, in Yates v. United States (1957), but the
speech must urge someone to commit illegal acts
Sedition
The States: Unconstitutional
Ashton v. Kentucky (1967) = Government
officials cannot use sedition laws to curb
public criticism
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) = defines
difference between “advocacy” and
“incitement”
Prior Restraint
Prior Restraint
•Near v. Minnesota,
U.S. 697 (1931)
•New York Times v. United States,
403 U.S. 713 (1971)
•United States v. The Progressive,
467 F. Supp. 990 (W.D.Wis. 1979)
•Hazelwood S.D. v. Kuhlmeier,
484 U.S. 260 (1988)
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