Amendments & Court cases

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 first clause of the First Amendment that prevents the federal government from supporting an official religion.

The second clause of the First Amendment that prevents the federal government from interfering with its citizens’ religious beliefs and practices.

A test to determine whether a law violates the establishment clause (Lemon v. Kurtzman), laws are constitutional only if they have a legitimate secular purpose, neither advance nor inhibit religion, and do not result in an “excessive government entanglement” with religion.

Prayer that does not advocate the beliefs of a specific religion but that acknowledges the existence of a divine being.

Nonreligious or unaffiliated with religion.

New York state law required schoolchildren to recite a nondenominational prayer each morning. A group of parents sued the state arguing that the law violated the Establishment Clause. 6-1 to Engel, judged that the state was giving unconstitutional government support to religion.

The state of Wisconsin fined Amish families for refusing to send them to school after the eighth grade; the Amish families argued that higher education conflicted with the free exercise of their religious beliefs. Unanimous to Yoder, held that the Free Exercise Clause outweighed the state law.

Formulated during Schenck v. United States, permitted the government to punish speech likely to bring about evils that Congress had a right to prevent. Replaced with the “direct incitement” test in the 60s, which says the government can only restrict speech when it's likely to result in imminent lawless action.

The act of damaging someone’s reputation by making false statements.

Defamation through a printed medium.

Spoken defamation.

Written or spoken communication that belittles a group based on its characteristics, such as race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Lewd or sexual art or publications, restrictions on materials that “to the average person applying contemporary community standards” depict offensive or sexual conduct and lack literary or artistic merit.

Nonverbal forms of speech protected by the First Amendment, such as picketing, wearing armbands, displaying signs, or engaging in acts of symbolic protest such as flag burning.

Limits to freedom of expression based on when, where, and how individuals or organizations express opinions. Ex. Permits for protests.

During World War I, socialist antiwar activists mailed fliers urging men to resist the military draft. They were arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917, which banned interference with military operations or supporting US enemies during wartime. Unanimous to US, upheld the Espionage Act and that the speech created a “clear and present danger”.

Iowa teenagers were suspended from their public high school for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. 7–2 For Tinker ruled that the armbands were a form of symbolic speech, and therefore the school had violated the student’s First Amendment rights.

Government censorship of free expression by preventing publication or speech before it takes place. However the Court has established a ”heavy presumption against prior restraint”.

The United States government attempted to restrain the New York Times from publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret history of US military action in Vietnam, based on national security concerns. Per curiam opinion for NY Times ruled that the attempt to bar the publication violated the First Amendment right to freedom of the press, and that publishing a history of the war did not pose an immediate national security threat

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

A judicial doctrine applying some protections of the Bill of Rights to the states, based on the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Chicago had placed gun control laws, which banned possessing them within city limits. A 76-year-old retired maintenance engineer, filed suit against the city, arguing that the regulations violated his Second Amendment rights. 5-4 for McDonald held the Second Amendment is applicable to the states due to the 14th Amendment.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.