The First Amendment

The First Amendment

Study Guide

Vocabulary

Due Process Clause

Establishment Clause

Free Exercise Clause

Heckler’s Veto

Libel

Slander

Sedition

Prior Restraint

Shield Law

Symbolic Speech

Content Neutral

Ideas and Concepts – General

• Why are schools so often at the center of 1st amendment debates?
• Explain the importance of the following quotations to the concept of individual rights:
• “…free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.”
• “My right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.”
• What is the importance of the 14th amendment?

Ideas and Concepts – Freedom of Religion

• What does the Free Exercise Clause protect?
• What has the Supreme Court interpreted the Establishment Clause to mean?
• What were “religious tests”?
• What is the Supreme Court’s logic on religion in school
• (I pull this topic out separately, not because it is more important, but rather because it is a good topic to represent other religion issues…the logic is often the same)?
• Why/when is it not allowed? Why?
• When is it allowed? Why?
• What does the Supreme Court say about citizens “freedom of belief”?
• Know the importance of the following court cases:

• West Virginia v Barnett
• Westside Schools v Mergens
• Jacobson v Massachusetts

• What is the Lemon Test?
• Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives
• What is the theory behind the creation of this agency of the government?
• What important Constitutional question must this agency constantly answer?

Ideas and Concepts – Expressive Rights

• What does it mean that the Supreme Court gives “preferred position” to First Amendment rights?
• What is the Court’s reasoning for this?
• What is the “Clear and Present Danger” Rule?
• What are the limitations placed on this category of speech restriction?
• What are “Fighting Words”?
• What are the limitations placed on this category of speech restriction?
• What is the logic behind “Symbolic Speech”?
• What are the restrictions on Obscenity?
• Why is the “Miller Test” and why are obscenity definitions so problematic?
• What are the two opposing positions regarding “shield laws”?

• In what ways can the government restrict one’s right to assemble?
• What Constitutional ideas are conflicting in the idea of a “heckler’s veto”?
• Why can the government restrict free expression on Radio and Television?
• Know the importance of the following court cases:

• Chaplinsky v New Hampshire
• Cohen v California
• Tinker v Des Moines
• Schenck v United States
• Phelps v Snyder
• ACLU v Reno
• Brandenburg v Ohio

Current Events and “Daily Desktop” Concepts

• Law of Diminishing Returns
• BRIC