First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Speech Essay

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First Amendment[pic] Terms
Congress shall make no law respecting an 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.

Complete the chart as follows. 1) Fill in the case name, 2) State the question before the court, 3) Summarize the court’s decision IN YOUR OWN WORDS and BOLD what you consider to be the take away from the case
Submit via Edmodo when you are finished. Print a copy for your Notebook.

|ISSUE |CASE |EXPLANATION |
|Burning a U.S. Flag in |Texas v. Johnson |Is the desecration of an American flag, by burning or otherwise, a form of speech that is |
|protest | |protected under the First Amendment? |
| | |Johnson's burning of a flag was protected expression under the First Amendment. The Court found |
| | |that Johnson's actions fell into the category of expressive conduct and had a distinctively |
| | |political nature. The fact that an audience takes offense to certain ideas or expression, the |
| | |Court found, does not justify prohibitions of speech. |
|Protesting a marine's |Snyder v. Phelps |Does the First Amendment protect protesters at a funeral from liability for intentionally |
|funeral by yelling "God | |inflicting emotional distress on the family of the deceased? |
|Hates Fags". | |The court ruled that the First Amendment does protect those who stage a protest at the funeral |
| | |of a military service member. The first amendment protects Phelps’ freedom of speech. |
|Obscenity |Miller v. California |Is the sale and distribution of obscene materials by mail protected under the First Amendment's |
| | |freedom of speech guarantee? |
| | |The court ruling stated the Miller did not have the right to distribute Obscene material. |
|Protecting minors from |Reno v. ACLU |Did certain provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act violate the First and Fifth |
|viewing Pornography | |Amendments by being overly broad and vague in their definitions of the types of internet |
| | |communications which they criminalized? |
| | |The act does violate the first (speech, press, and assembly) amendment. |
|Bong Hits for Jesus |MORSE v. FREDERICK |Does the First Amendment allow public schools to prohibit students from displaying messages |
|Picture | |promoting the use of illegal drugs at school-supervised events? Does a school official have |
| | |qualified immunity from a damages lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 when, in accordance with school |
| |
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