First Amendment Project
Austin K. & Raphael W.
Wieland Academy
The First Amendment Today
The First Amendment Today
The 45 words of the First Amendment haven't changed since
their adoption in 1791. Yet they are called upon to help guide a
society that is radically different from the one in which the
Founding Fathers lived. In this century, the First Amendment
has been stretched and reinterpreted as the government has
become involved in nearly all spheres of expressive activity -campaign financing, federal funding of the arts, and regulation
of mass media, to name but a few.
In the following slides I will show you some of the things that
have shaped the first amendment into what it is today.
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement
adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which
announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with
Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a
part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the
Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on
July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year
after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday
of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated
on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by
Congress.
The Constitution of the United States of
America
The Constitution of the United States of
America
The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme
law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the
legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of
America and the federal government of the United States. It
provides the framework for the organization of the United
States government and for the relationship of the federal
government to the states, to citizens, and to all people within
the United States.
The First
Amendment
The First Amendment
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States
Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits
the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion",
impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of
speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the
right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a
governmental redress of grievances. Originally, the First Amendment
only applied to the Congress. However, in the 20th century, the
Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment applies the First Amendment to each state, including
any local government
United States v. Cruikshank
United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876) was an important
United States Supreme Court decision in United States
constitutional law, one of the earliest to deal with the application of
the Bill of Rights to state governments following the adoption of
the Fourteenth Amendment.
Reynolds v. United States
• Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878), was a
Supreme Court of the United States case that held
that religious duty was not a suitable defense to a
criminal indictment. George Reynolds was a
member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, charged with bigamy under the Morrill AntiBigamy Act after marrying Amelia Jane Schofield
while still married to Mary Ann Tuddenham in Utah
Territory.
The Sedition Act of 1918
• The Sedition Act of 1918 was an Act of the United States
Congress signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on
May 16, 1918. It forbade the use of "disloyal, profane,
scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States
government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others
to view the American government or its institutions with
contempt. The act also allowed the Postmaster General to
refuse to deliver mail that met those same standards for
punishable speech or opinion. It applied only to times "when
the United States is in war."It was repealed on December 13,
1920.
Schenck v. United States
• Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), was a United States
Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 and
concluded that a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to
free speech against the draft during World War I. Charles Schenck
was the Secretary of the Socialist party and was responsible for
printing, distributing, and mailing 15,000 leaflets to men eligible for
the draft that advocated opposition to the draft. These leaflets
contained statements such as; "Do not submit to intimidation",
"Assert your rights", "If you do not assert and support your rights,
you are helping to deny or disparage rights which it is the solemn
duty of all citizens and residents of the United States to retain."
Ultimately, the case served as the founding of the "clear and present
danger" rule.
Scopes Trial
• The Scopes Trial—formally known as Scopes vs. The
State of Tennessee and informally known as the Scopes
Monkey Trial—was an American legal case that tested
the Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach any
thoughts on the origin of man other than the Biblical
account of man’s origin. It was enacted as Tennessee
Code Annotated Title 49 (Education) Section 1922 . The
law also prevented the teaching of the evolution of man
from lower orders of animals in place of the Biblical
account, in any Tennessee state-funded school and
university.
West Virginia State Board of
Education v. Barnette
• West Virginia State Board of Education v.
Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), is a decision by
the Supreme Court of the United States that held
that the Free Speech Clause of the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution
protected students from being forced to salute the
American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance
in school.
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964),[1] was a
United States Supreme Court case which established the actual
malice standard which has to be met before press reports about
public officials or public figures can be considered to be defamation
and libel; and hence allowed free reporting of the civil rights
campaigns in the southern United States. It is one of the key
decisions supporting the freedom of the press. The actual malice
standard requires that the plaintiff in a defamation or libel case prove
that the publisher of the statement in question knew that the
statement was false or acted in reckless disregard of its truth or
falsity. Because of the extremely high burden of proof on the
plaintiff, and the difficulty in proving essentially what is inside a
person's head, such cases—when they involve public figures—rarely
prevail.
United States v. O'Brien
• United States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968), was a
decision by the Supreme Court of the United States,
which ruled that a criminal prohibition against burning a
draft card did not violate the First Amendment's
guarantee of free speech. Though the Court recognized
that O'Brien's conduct was expressive as a protest
against the Vietnam War, it considered the law justified
by a significant government interest that was unrelated
to the suppression of speech and was tailored towards
that end
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent
Community School District
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community
School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) was a
decision by the United States Supreme Court that
defined the constitutional rights of students in
U.S. public schools. The Tinker test is still used
by courts today to determine whether a school's
disciplinary actions violate students' First
Amendment rights
Texas v. Johnson
• Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), was a
landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the
United States that invalidated prohibitions on
desecrating the American flag in force in 48 of the
50 states. Justice William Brennan wrote for a fivejustice majority in holding that the defendant's act of
flag burning was protected speech under the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Johnson was represented by attorneys David D. Cole
and William Kunstler.
Beussink v. Woodland R-IV School
District
• Beussink v. Woodland R-IV School district, 30 F.
Supp. 2d 1175 (E.D. Mo. 1998) is an important
case in United States law regarding the First
Amendment and its application in public schools.
It was decided in the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern
Division.
Morse v. Frederick
• Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393 (2007) was a
school speech case in which the United States
Supreme Court held that the First Amendment
does not prevent educators from suppressing
student speech, at a school-supervised event, that
is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug
use.
United States v. Stevens
• United States v. Stevens, 559 U.S. (2010) was a
decision by the Supreme Court of the United
States, which ruled that 18 U.S.C. § 48, a federal
statute criminalizing the commercial production,
sale, or possession of depictions of cruelty to
animals, was an unconstitutional abridgment of
the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
And now…..
• On to the First Amendment in
Our Community.
Congress shall make no law respecting
the establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
or abridging the freedom of speech
or of the press
or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble
and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances
Thanks for Watching!