LS305Constitutional LawSeminar 2

Scoop du Jour: Our First Amendment rights make us great

•Chicago’s McCormick Tribune Museum – Freedom Survey▫ Americans know “The Simpsons” cartoon family better

than they know the First Amendment▫ More than half of those surveyed can name at least two

members of the Simpson cartoon family.▫ More than 1 in 5 (22%) can name all five Simpson

family members — Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie.

▫ Only 1 in 1,000 (.001%) can name all five First Amendment freedoms

Which of the following is NOT a right protected by the First Amendment?

•Assembly•Petition•Privacy•Religion•Press•Speech

Yes (true) or No (false)

•The government has the right to restrict indecent material on the internet.

Yes or No

•It is the Supreme Court, not Congress, that ultimately determines what rights are protected by the First Amendment.

Yes or No

•Students at the University of Kentucky and Transylvania University (a private university in Lexington, KY) have identical First Amendment rights when it comes to distributing pamphlets on their campuses.

Yes or No

•When the First Amendment became part of the Constitution, it applied equally to the federal government and the states.

Yes or No

•An amendment can become part of the Constitution only after it has been proposed by two-thirds of each house of Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the states.

Yes or No

•The President of the United States must sign an amendment before it becomes part of the Constitution.

Yes or No

•The Supreme Court has ruled that under some circumstances, the government can require newspapers to publish material that their editors do not want to publish.

Yes or No

•The Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment.

Yes or No

•Broadcast journalists enjoy the same First Amendment rights that newspaper reporters have.

Yes or No

•Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are absolute guarantees; the Supreme Court has said that nothing can trump the right of citizens to speak their minds.

First Amendment

•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.

The Five Freedoms

•The Right of the Press to openly speak•The Right to Establish and Practice a

Religion•The Right to Gather or Assemble•The Right to Petition•The Right of Free Speech

Recent First Amendment Headlines•Firm can't be sued for using info from

offender registry•Federal judge: La. inmate has right to

religious newspaper •U.S. illegally wiretapped Islamic

charity, federal court finds •http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/

Unprotected categories

• Incitement to imminent lawless action•True threats

Yes or No

•Commercial speech, such as advertisements on TV or in a magazine, enjoy no First Amendment protection.