First Amendment

Extracted Attributes

• Part of

  Bill of Rights

• Legal Scope

  Applies to state actors; incorporated to states via the 14th Amendment

• Core Clauses

  Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause, Free Speech Clause, Free Press Clause, Assembly Clause, Petition Clause

• Ratification Date

  1791-12-15

• Original Draft Position

  3rd (became 1st after the first two proposed articles were not ratified)

Timeline

• The First Amendment is officially adopted as part of the Bill of Rights. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1791-12-15

• Debs v. U.S.: The Supreme Court upholds the conviction of Eugene Debs, establishing limits on speech that poses a 'clear and present danger'. (Source: Web Search)

  1919-03-10

• Gitlow v. New York: The Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment applies to state governments through the 14th Amendment. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1925-06-08

• Near v. Minnesota: The Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment generally protects against prior restraint (pre-publication censorship). (Source: Wikipedia)

  1931-06-01

• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette: The Court rules that compelling public school students to salute the flag violates the Free Speech Clause. (Source: Web Search)

  1943-06-14

• New York Times Co. v. United States: The Supreme Court allows the publication of the Pentagon Papers, reinforcing protections against prior restraint. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1971-06-30

• Elon Musk reinstates Alex Jones on X, sparking a national debate on the limits of free speech and platform content moderation. (Source: Document eb4480db-8906-408f-b8da-c7f2622c98ce)

  2023-12-09

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents Congress from making laws respecting an establishment of religion; prohibiting the free exercise of religion; or abridging the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights. In the original draft of the Bill of Rights, what is now the First Amendment occupied third place. The first two articles were not ratified by the states, so the article on disestablishment and free speech ended up being first. The Bill of Rights was proposed to assuage Anti-Federalist opposition to Constitutional ratification. Initially, the First Amendment applied only to laws enacted by the Congress, and many of its provisions were interpreted more narrowly than they are today. Beginning with Gitlow v. New York (1925), the Supreme Court applied the First Amendment to states—a process known as incorporation—through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The First Amendment applies only to state actors. With regard to religious freedom, the Court has frequently cited Thomas Jefferson's call for "a wall of separation between church and State", a metaphor for the separation of religions from government and vice versa as well as the free exercise of religious beliefs that many Founders favored. Speech rights were expanded significantly in a series of 20th- and 21st-century court decisions which protected various forms of political speech, anonymous speech, campaign finance, pornography, and school speech; these rulings also defined a series of exceptions to First Amendment protections. The Free Press Clause protects publication of information and opinions, and applies to a wide variety of media. In Near v. Minnesota (1931) and New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected against prior restraint—pre-publication censorship—in almost all cases. The Petition Clause protects the right to petition all branches and agencies of government for action. In addition to the right of assembly guaranteed by this clause, the Court has also ruled that the amendment implicitly protects freedom of association.

Web Search Results

• First Amendment - Freedom of Expression at Ohio State

  The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects individuals’ freedom of speech and expression, stating: “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.”. How does the First Amendment apply to students, faculty, staff and visitors at the university? [...] What speech is protected by the First Amendment? The First Amendment protects spoken, written and symbolic speech, as well as expressive activity, regardless of the content. What a person says, wears, reads or performs is generally protected by the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects speech that is offensive, hateful or upsetting unless it falls into a category that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined is unprotected. [...] Is there speech that is not protected by the First Amendment? Yes, there are limits to the protections afforded by the First Amendment. Whether speech is protected requires a detailed, fact specific analysis. In general, the First Amendment does not protect individuals from engaging in violence, true threats, the incitement of violence and harassment.

• The First Amendment Freedoms of Speech, Religion, and the Press

  The First Amendment safeguards religious freedom, the free press, and free expression from interference by the federal government. Through more than two hundred years of court cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has been tasked with interpreting the First Amendment to determine the breadth of these fundamental rights. These Supreme Court cases have answered questions like: [...] “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.” [...] One of the most well-known constitutional rights, freedom of speech essentially means that government entities cannot restrict a person’s ability to express their opinions or ideas. Nor can the government retaliate against someone based on what they say. The Supreme Court stated in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan that the First Amendment’s central promise is that “debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.”

• First Amendment and Religion - United States Courts

  The First Amendment has two provisions concerning religion: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The Establishment clause prohibits the government from "establishing" a religion. The precise definition of "establishment" is unclear. Historically, it meant prohibiting state-sponsored churches, such as the Church of England.

• First Amendment to the United States Constitution - Wikipedia

  The First Amendment broadly protects the rights of free speech and free press. Free speech means the free and public expression of opinions without censorship, interference, or restraint by the government. The term "freedom of speech" embedded in the First Amendment encompasses the decision what to say as well as what not to say. The speech covered by the First Amendment covers many ways of expression and therefore protects what people say as well as how they express themselves. Free press [...] The First Amendment tolerates neither governmentally established religion nor governmental interference with religion. One of the central purposes of the First Amendment, the Supreme Court wrote in Gillette v. United States (1970), consists "of ensuring governmental neutrality in matters of religion." In Wallace v. Jaffree regarding silent school prayer, it was maintained that the central liberty that unifies the various clauses in the First Amendment is the individual's freedom of conscience. [...] The Free Press Clause protects publication of information and opinions, and applies to a wide variety of media. In Near v. Minnesota (1931) and New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected against prior restraint—pre-publication censorship—in almost all cases. The Petition Clause protects the right to petition all branches and agencies of government for action. In addition to the right of assembly guaranteed by this clause, the Court has

• First Amendment Timeline | The Free Speech Center - MTSU

  by the First Amendment, citing the now-famous example of falsely crying “fire” in a crowded theater. In Debs v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the conviction of socialist and presidential candidate Eugene Debs under the Espionage Act for making speeches opposing World War I. Justice Holmes claims to apply the “clear and present danger” test; however, he phrases it as requiring that Debs’ words have a “natural tendency and reasonably probable effect” of obstructing recruitment. The first [...] Amendment makes the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment applicable to states. The Court upholds a Pennsylvania flag salute law in Minersville School District v. Gobitis after a Jehovah’s Witness family with two children in the public schools had challenged their expulsion for refusing to salute the flag on First Amendment grounds. “National unity is the basis of national security,” Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote for the majority. Only Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone dissented from the [...] 1943 - In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a West Virginia requirement to salute the flag violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. In National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court states that no one has a First Amendment right to a radio license or to monopolize a radio frequency. In Murdock v. Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court invalidates a license tax imposed on Jehovah's Witnesses going door to door.

• Instance Of

  Q4167410