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{{Short description|1791 amendment limiting government restriction of civil rights}} | |||
{{pp-move-indef}}{{US Constitution article series}}].]] | |||
{{Redirect|First Amendment|the first amendments to other constitutions}} | |||
The '''First Amendment''' to the ] is part of the ]. The amendment prohibits the ] from making laws "]", impeding the ], infringing on the ] and infringing on the ]. In the 20th century, the ] held that the ] ] the First Amendment to each ], including any ]. | |||
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{{Good article}} | |||
{{Use American English|date = January 2019}} | |||
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}} | |||
{{US Constitution article series}} | |||
The '''First Amendment''' ('''Amendment I''') to the ] prevents ] from making laws respecting an ]; prohibiting the ]; or abridging the ], the ], the ], or the ] the government for redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the ]. 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=America's Founding Documents - The Bill of Rights: A Transcription |url=https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript#:~:text=On%20September%2025%2C%201789%2C%20the,Article%201%20was%20never%20ratified |website=archives.gov | date=November 4, 2015 |publisher=] |access-date=October 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241002094533/https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript |archive-date=October 2, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kratz |first=Jessie |date=2020-01-23 |title=Unratified Amendments |url=https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2020/01/23/unratified-amendments/ |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Pieces of History |language=en-US} |archive-date=September 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927202126/https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2020/01/23/unratified-amendments/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
The Bill of Rights was proposed to assuage ] opposition to ]. Initially, the First Amendment applied only to laws enacted by the ], and many of its provisions were interpreted more narrowly than they are today. Beginning with '']'' (1925), the ] applied the First Amendment to states—a process known as ]—through the ]. | |||
In '']'' (1947), the Court drew on ]'s correspondence to call for "a wall of separation between church and State", a literary but clarifying metaphor for the separation of religions from government and vice versa as well as the free exercise of religious beliefs that many Founders favored. Through decades of contentious litigation, the precise boundaries of the mandated separation have been adjudicated in ways that periodically created controversy. Speech rights were expanded significantly in a series of 20th and 21st century court decisions which protected various forms of political speech, anonymous speech, ], pornography, and ]; these rulings also defined a series of ]. The Supreme Court overturned ] precedent to increase the burden of proof for ] and ] suits, most notably in '']'' (1964). Commercial speech, however, is less protected by the First Amendment than political speech, and is therefore subject to greater regulation. | |||
The Free Press Clause protects publication of information and opinions, and applies to a wide variety of media. In '']'' (1931) and '']'' (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected against ]—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 ]. | |||
Although the First Amendment applies only to ],{{efn|See for the topic First Amendment and state actor exemplarily the 2019 United States Supreme Court case '']'', No. 17-1702, 587 U.S. ___ (2019).}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/17/18682099/supreme-court-ruling-first-amendment-social-media-public-forum|title=First Amendment constraints don't apply to private platforms, Supreme Court affirms|last=Lecher|first=Colin|date=June 17, 2019|website=The Verge|access-date=June 18, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230719183906/https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/17/18682099/supreme-court-ruling-first-amendment-social-media-public-forum|archive-date=July 19, 2023}}</ref> there is a common misconception that it prohibits anyone from limiting free speech, including private, non-governmental entities.<ref name="McGregor"/> Moreover, the Supreme Court has determined that protection of speech is not absolute.<ref>{{cite web |title=What Does Free Speech Mean? |url=https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does |publisher=United States Courts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104180603/https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does|archive-date=January 4, 2022}}</ref> | |||
==Text== | ==Text== | ||
{{Brennan has a man-gina!!!!!!!!!!! | |||
{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment|title=First Amendment|publisher=Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute|access-date=May 3, 2013|archive-date=May 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501072645/http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment|url-status=live|df=mdy}}</ref>}} | |||
{{wide image|Amendment_1.jpg|1999px|The hand-written copy of the proposed articles of amendment passed by Congress in 1789, cropped to show just the text in the third article that would later be ratified as the First Amendment}} | |||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
{{Main|Anti-Federalism}} | |||
Opposition to the ratification of the Constitution was, in part, based on the Constitution's lack of adequate guarantees for ]. To provide such guarantees, the First Amendment, along with the rest of the ], was submitted to the states for ratification on September 25, 1789 and adopted on December 15, 1791. | |||
{{Further|Anti-Federalism}} | |||
==Establishment of religion== | |||
] was the principal author of the ], adopted by the ] on June 12, 1776.]] | |||
{{Main|Establishment Clause of the First Amendment}} | |||
], drafter of the ]]] | |||
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion by the Congress or the preference of one religion over another, non-religion over religion, or religion over non-religion. Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the federal government. Subsequently, under the ], certain selected provisions were applied to states. However, it was not until the middle and later years of the twentieth century that the ] began to interpret the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses in such a manner as to restrict the promotion of religion by state governments. For example, in the ''],'' {{ussc|512|687|1994}}, Justice ], writing for the majority, concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to ]." | |||
The right to petition for redress of grievances was a principle included in the 1215 ], as well as the ]. In 1776, the second year of the ], the ] passed a ] that included the sentence "The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments." Eight of the other twelve states made similar pledges. However, these declarations were generally considered "mere admonitions to state legislatures", rather than enforceable provisions.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=6–7}} | |||
After several years of comparatively weak government under the ], a ] in Philadelphia proposed a new constitution on September 17, 1787, featuring among other changes a stronger chief executive. ], a Constitutional Convention delegate and the drafter of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, proposed that the Constitution include a bill of rights listing and guaranteeing ]. Other delegates—including future Bill of Rights drafter ]—disagreed, arguing that existing state guarantees of civil liberties were sufficient and any attempt to enumerate individual rights risked the implication that other, unnamed rights were unprotected. After a brief debate, Mason's proposal was defeated by a unanimous vote of the state delegations.{{sfn|Beeman|2009|pp=341–43}} | |||
In 2007, the ], in ''Inouye v Kemna'', ruled that a ]e can not be forced to attend ] meetings as a part of his parole when there is a conflict between the religious belief of the parolee and that of Alcoholics Anonymous.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/print/article/229810|title=AA Can Not Be Forced Onto Parolees|last=Mullins|first=KJ|date=September 18, 2007|publisher=]|accessdate=10 January 2010}}</ref> | |||
For the constitution to be ratified, however, nine of the thirteen states were required to approve it in state conventions. Opposition to ratification ("Anti-Federalism") was partly based on the Constitution's lack of adequate guarantees for civil liberties. Supporters of the Constitution in states where popular sentiment was against ratification (including Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York) successfully proposed that their state conventions both ratify the Constitution and call for the addition of a bill of rights. The U.S. Constitution was eventually ratified by all thirteen states. In the ], following the state legislatures' request, James Madison proposed twenty constitutional amendments, and his proposed draft of the First Amendment read as follows: | |||
==Free exercise of religion== | |||
<blockquote>The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed. The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable. The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions, or remonstrances, for redress of their grievances.<ref>Haynes, Charles, et al. ''The First Amendment in Schools: A Guide from the First Amendment Center'', (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003). Madison also proposed a similar limitation upon the states, which was completely rejected: "No State shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases." Madison, James. (June 8, 1789) via ''The Founders' Constitution''.</ref></blockquote> | |||
{{Main|Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment}} | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|374|398|1963}}, the ] applied the ] standard of review to this clause, holding that a state must show a compelling interest in restricting religious activities. In '']'', {{ussc|494|872|1990}}, the ] retreated from this standard, permitting governmental actions that were neutral regarding religion. The Congress attempted to restore this standard by passing the ], but in '']'', {{ussc|521|507|1997}}, the Supreme Court held that such an attempt was ] regarding state and local government actions (though permissible regarding federal actions). | |||
This language was greatly condensed by Congress, and passed the House and Senate with almost no recorded debate, complicating future discussion of the Amendment's intent.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=2}}{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=10}} Congress approved and submitted to the states for their ratification twelve articles of amendment on September 25, 1789. The revised text of the third article became the First Amendment, because the last ten articles of the submitted 12 articles were ratified by the requisite number of states on December 15, 1791, and are now known collectively as the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights.html |title=Bill of Rights |publisher=National Archives |access-date=April 4, 2013 |archive-date=April 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404123122/http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/nation/jb_nation_bofright_1.html |title=The New United States of America Adopted the Bill of Rights: December 15, 1791 |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=April 4, 2013 |archive-date=December 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225223835/http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/nation/jb_nation_bofright_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
==Freedom of speech== | |||
{{Main|Freedom of speech in the United States}} | |||
===Sedition=== | |||
The ] never ruled on the ] of any federal law regarding the Free Speech Clause until the 20th century. The Supreme Court never ruled on the ] of 1798, whose speech provisions expired in 1801.<ref>This was before the Supreme Court's decision in '']'', {{ussc|5|137|1803|1|Cranch}}</ref> The leading critics of the law, ] and ], argued for the Acts' unconstitutionality based on the First Amendment, among other Constitutional provisions (e.g. ]).<ref></ref> In '']'', {{ussc|376|254|1964}}, the Supreme Court said, "lthough the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court, the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history."<ref>''Sullivan'', at 276</ref> | |||
==Freedom of religion== | |||
After ], several cases involving laws limiting speech came before the Supreme Court. The ] imposed a maximum sentence of twenty years for anyone who caused or attempted to cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States." Under the Act, there were over two thousand prosecutions. For instance, one filmmaker was sentenced to ten years imprisonment because his portrayal of British soldiers in a movie about the ] impugned the good faith of an American ally, the United Kingdom. The ] went even further, criminalizing "disloyal," "scurrilous" or "abusive" language against the government. | |||
{{Main|Freedom of religion in the United States|Religion in the United States}} | |||
] secured religious liberty in the English ]. Similar laws were passed in the ], ] and ]. These laws stood in direct contrast with the ] theocratic rule in the ] and ] colonies.<ref>{{cite web |title=American History: Massachusetts Bay Colony |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Massachusetts-Bay-Colony |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=December 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204114232/https://www.britannica.com/place/Massachusetts-Bay-Colony |archive-date=December 4, 2020}}</ref>]] | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|249|47|1919}}, the Supreme Court was first requested to strike down a law violating the Free Speech Clause. The case involved Charles Schenck, who had, during the war, published leaflets challenging the conscription system then in effect. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld Schenck's conviction for violating the Espionage Act. Justice ], writing for the Court, suggested that "the question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a ] that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." | |||
Religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion, is "the right of all persons to believe, speak, and act – individually and in community with others, in private and in public – in accord with their understanding of ultimate truth."<ref name="20191101FarrReligousFreedom" /> The acknowledgement of religious freedom as the first right protected in the ] points toward the American founders' understanding of the importance of religion to human, social, and political flourishing.<ref name="20191101FarrReligousFreedom" /> ]<ref name="20191101FarrReligousFreedom" /> is protected by the First Amendment through its ] and ], which together form the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment.<ref name="20021226ReligiousFreedomEducationProject">{{cite web|author1=Director Religious Freedom Education Project Charles C. Haynes |title=History of Religious Liberty in America. Written for ''Civitas: A Framework for Civic Education'' (1991) by the Council for the Advancement of Citizenship and the Center for Civic Education.|url=https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/first-amendment-center/topics/freedom-of-religion/religious-liberty-in-america-overview/history-of-religious-liberty-in-america/|access-date=May 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525035716/https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/first-amendment-center/topics/freedom-of-religion/religious-liberty-in-america-overview/history-of-religious-liberty-in-america/|archive-date=May 25, 2020|date=December 26, 2002}}</ref> The first clause prohibits any governmental "establishment of religion" and the second prohibits any governmental interference with "the free exercise thereof."<ref name=":4">{{cite web|title=McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky., 545 U.S. 844 (2005), at Part IV|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/545/844/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 27, 2005}}</ref> These clauses of the First Amendment encompass "the two big arenas of religion in ]. Establishment cases deal with the Constitution's ban on Congress endorsing, promoting or becoming too involved with religion. Free exercise cases deal with Americans' rights to practice their faith."<ref name="20201103WashingtonPostFulton v. Philadelphia" /> Both clauses sometimes compete with each other. The Supreme Court in '']'' (2005) clarified this by the following example: When the government spends money on the clergy, then it looks like establishing religion, but if the government cannot pay for ], then many soldiers and sailors would be kept from the opportunity to exercise their chosen religions.<ref name=":4"/> The Supreme Court developed the preferred position doctrine.<ref>{{cite web |author=Richard L. Pacelle Jr. |title=Preferred Position Doctrine |url=https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/preferred-position-doctrine/ |publisher=Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University |date=September 19, 2023|access-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202102119/https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/preferred-position-doctrine/ |archive-date=February 2, 2024}}</ref> In '']'' (1943) the Supreme Court stated that "Freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion are in a preferred position".<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), at 115 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/319/105/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 10, 2022 |date=May 3, 1943}}</ref> The Court added: | |||
<blockquote>Plainly, a community may not suppress, or the state tax, the dissemination of views because they are unpopular, annoying or distasteful. If that device were ever sanctioned, there would have been forged a ready instrument for the suppression of the faith which any minority cherishes but which does not happen to be in favor. That would be a complete repudiation of the philosophy of the ].<ref name="auto1"/></blockquote> | |||
The "clear and present danger" test of ''Schenck'' was extended in '']'', {{ussc|249|211|1919}}, again by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. The case involved a speech made by ], a political activist. Debs had not spoken any words that posed a "clear and present danger" to the ] system, but a speech in which he denounced ] was nonetheless found to be sufficient grounds for his conviction. Justice Holmes suggested that the speech had a "natural tendency" to occlude the draft. | |||
In his dissenting opinion in '']'' (1961), Justice ] illustrated the broad protections offered by the First Amendment's religious liberty clauses: | |||
Thus, the Supreme Court effectively shaped the First Amendment in such a manner as to permit a multitude of restrictions on speech. Further restrictions on speech were accepted by the Supreme Court when it decided '']'', {{ussc|268|652|1925}}. Writing for the majority, Justice ] suggested that states could punish words that "by their very nature, involve danger to the public peace and to the security of the state." Lawmakers were given the freedom to decide which speech would constitute a danger. | |||
<blockquote>The First Amendment commands government to have no interest in theology or ritual; it admonishes government to be interested in allowing religious freedom to flourish—whether the result is to produce ], Jews, or ], or to turn the people toward the path of ], or to end in a predominantly ] nation, or to produce in the long run ] or agnostics. On matters of this kind, ]. This freedom plainly includes freedom from religion, with the right to believe, speak, write, publish and advocate anti-religious programs. ''], supra'', 319 U. S. 641. Certainly the "free exercise" clause does not require that everyone embrace the theology of some church or of some faith, or observe the religious practices of any majority or minority sect. The First Amendment, by its "establishment" clause, prevents, of course, the selection by government of an "official" church. Yet the ban plainly extends farther than that. We said in '']'', 330 U. S. 1, 330 U. S. 16, that it would be an "establishment" of a religion if the Government financed one church or several churches. For what better way to "establish" an institution than to find the fund that will support it? The "establishment" clause protects citizens also against any law which selects any religious custom, practice, or ritual, puts the force of government behind it, and fines, imprisons, or otherwise penalizes a person for not observing it. The Government plainly could not join forces with one religious group and decree a universal and symbolic ]. Nor could it require all children to be ] or give tax exemptions only to those whose children were baptized.<ref>{{cite web|title=McGowan v. Maryland: 366 U.S. 420 (1961)|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/366/420/#tab-opinion-1943325|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=May 25, 2020}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
Freedom of speech was influenced by ] during the ]. In 1940, the Congress enacted the ], which made it illegal to advocate "the propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force and violence." The law was mainly used as a weapon against ] leaders. The constitutionality of the Act was questioned in '']'' {{ussc|341|494|1951}}. The Court upheld the law in 1951 by a 6-2 vote (Justice ] did not participate because he had previously ordered the prosecutions when he was ]). Chief Justice ] relied on Oliver Wendell Holmes' "clear and present danger" test when he wrote for the majority. Vinson suggested that the doctrine did not require the government to "wait until the putsch is about to be executed, the plans have been laid and the signal is awaited", thereby broadly defining the words "clear and present danger." Thus, even though there was no immediate danger posed by the Communist Party's ideas, the Court allowed the Congress to restrict the Communist Party's speech. | |||
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''Dennis v. United States'' has never been explicitly overruled by the Court, but subsequent decisions have greatly narrowed its place within First Amendment jurisprudence. In 1957, the Court changed its interpretation of the Smith Act in deciding '']'', {{ussc|354|298|1957}}. The Supreme Court ruled that the Act was aimed at "the advocacy of action, not ideas". Thus, the advocacy of abstract doctrine remains protected under the First Amendment. Only speech explicitly inciting the forcible overthrow of the government remains punishable under the Smith Act. | |||
| quote = Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?| source = | |||
—] ] in her ] in '']'' (2005).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1693.ZC.html|title= McCreary County vs. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky|author= Sandra Day O'Connor|date=June 27, 2005|work=Legal Information Institute|publisher=Cornell university Law Department|access-date=September 13, 2012}}</ref> | |||
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The First Amendment tolerates neither governmentally established religion nor governmental interference with religion.<ref>{{cite news |title=Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York, 397 U.S. 664 (1970, at 669 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/397/664/ |access-date=July 16, 2023 |work=Justia US Supreme Court Center |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |date=May 4, 1970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230716202512/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/397/664/ |archive-date=July 16, 2023}}</ref> One of the central purposes of the First Amendment, the Supreme Court wrote in '']'' (1970), consists "of ensuring governmental neutrality in matters of religion."<ref name="auto">{{cite web|author1=John R. Vile|title=''Gillette v. United States'' (1971)|publisher=The First Amendment Encyclopedia presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies|access-date=June 14, 2020|archive-date=June 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614171632/https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/234/gillette-v-united-states|url=https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/234/gillette-v-united-states}}</ref> The history of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause and the Supreme Court's own constitutional jurisprudence with respect to these clauses was explained in the 1985 case '']''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), at 48 et seq.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref> The Supreme Court noted at the outset that the First Amendment limits equally the power of ] and of the states to abridge the individual freedoms it protects. The First Amendment was adopted to curtail the power of Congress to interfere with the individual's freedom to believe, to worship, and to express himself in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience. The ] of the ] imposes on the states the same limitations the First Amendment had always imposed on the Congress.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), at 48 – 49.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref> This "elementary proposition of law" was confirmed and endorsed time and time again in cases like '']'', 310 U. S. 296, 303 (1940){{efn|Writing for a unanimous Court in ''Cantwell v. Connecticut'', 310 U. S. 296, 303 (1940), ] explained: "We hold that the statute, as construed and applied to the appellants, deprives them of their liberty without due process of law in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment. The fundamental concept of liberty embodied in that Amendment embraces the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment. The First Amendment declares that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Fourteenth Amendment has rendered the legislatures of the states as incompetent as Congress to enact such laws. The constitutional inhibition of legislation on the subject of religion has a double aspect. On the one hand, it forestalls compulsion by law of the acceptance of any creed or the practice of any form of worship. Freedom of conscience and freedom to adhere to such religious organization or form of worship as the individual may choose cannot be restricted by law. On the other hand, it safeguards the free exercise of the chosen form of religion."<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), at 50. Quoting from Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296 (1940) at 303.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref>}} and '']'' (1977).{{efn|"Enlarging on this theme, ] recently wrote: "We begin with the proposition that the right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment against state action includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all. ''See ]'', 319 U. S. 624, 319 U. S. 633–634 (1943); ''id.'' at 319 U. S. 645 (], concurring). A system which secures the right to ] religious, political, and ideological causes must also guarantee the concomitant right to decline to foster such concepts. The right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of the broader concept of 'individual freedom of mind.' ''Id.'' at 319 U. S. 637.""''<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), at 50–51. Partially quoting from Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705 (1977) at 714|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), at 50 – 52.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref> The central liberty that unifies the various clauses in the First Amendment is the individual's ]:<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), at 50.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref> | |||
===War protests=== | |||
The ] expanded free speech protections in the 1960s, though there were exceptions. In '']'', {{ussc|391|367|1968}}, the Court upheld a law prohibiting the mutilation of ]s, because the Court felt that burning draft cards would interfere with the "smooth and efficient functioning" of the draft system. In contrast, in '']'', {{ussc|403|15|1971}}, the court found that a person could not be punished for wearing, in the corridors of the ] courthouse, a jacket reading "Fuck the Draft". | |||
<blockquote>Just as the right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of a broader concept of individual freedom of mind, so also the individual's freedom to choose his own creed is the counterpart of his right to refrain from accepting the creed established by the majority. At one time, it was thought that this right merely proscribed the preference of one Christian ] over another, but would not require equal respect for the conscience of the ], the ], or the ] of a non-Christian faith such as ] or Judaism. But when the underlying principle has been examined in the crucible of litigation, the Court has unambiguously concluded that the individual freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment embraces the right to select any religious faith or none at all. This conclusion derives support not only from the interest in respecting the individual's freedom of conscience, but also from the conviction that religious beliefs worthy of respect are the product of free and voluntary choice by the faithful, and from recognition of the fact that the political interest in forestalling ] extends beyond intolerance among Christian sects – or even intolerance among "religions" – to encompass intolerance of ] and ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), at 52–54.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|393|503|1969}}, the Supreme Court ruled that free speech rights extended to students in school. The case involved several students who were punished for wearing black armbands to protest the ]. The Supreme Court ruled that the school could not restrict symbolic speech that did not cause undue interruptions of school activities. Justice ] wrote, {{quote|chools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students...are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect their obligations to the State.}} However, in '']'', {{ussc|478|675|1986}}, the Court held a student could be punished for his speech before a public assembly. | |||
===Establishment of religion=== | |||
In the ] of '']'', {{ussc|395|444|1969}}, which expressly overruled '']'', {{ussc|274|357|1927}} (a case in which a woman was imprisoned for aiding the Communist Party), the Supreme Court referred to the right to speak freely of violent action and revolution in broad terms:{{quote| decisions have fashioned the principle that the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.}} | |||
{{See also|Establishment Clause}} | |||
===Anonymous speech=== | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|362|60|1960}}, the Court struck down a ] city ordinance that made it a crime to distribute ] pamphlets. | |||
], of ], and father of the ]."]] | |||
===Commercial speech=== | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|478|328|1986}}, the Court affirmed the Puerto Rico Supreme Court conclusion, that Puerto Rico's Games of Chance Act of 1948, including the regulations thereunder, was not facially unconstitutional because the population specific ban on commercial speech related to casino gambling did not violate the First Amendment nor did it violate the ] or ]s of the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=478&invol=328|title=POSADAS de PUERTO RICO ASSOC. v. TOURISM CO., 478 U.S. 328 (1986)|publisher=FindLaw|accessdate=2010-01-10}}</ref> | |||
The precise meaning of the Establishment Clause can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. ] wrote about the First Amendment and its restriction on Congress in an 1802 reply to the ],<ref>{{cite web |author1=Jennifer A. Marshall (Director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation) |title=REPORT Religious Liberty: Why Does Religious Freedom Matter |url=https://www.heritage.org/religious-liberty/report/why-does-religious-freedom-matter |publisher=] |access-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008053014/https://www.heritage.org/religious-liberty/report/why-does-religious-freedom-matter |archive-date=October 8, 2020 |date=December 20, 2010|quote="Today, the religious roots of the American order and the role of religion in its continued success are poorly understood. One source of the confusion is the phrase "separation of church and state," a phrase used by President Thomas Jefferson in a widely misunderstood letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut in 1802. Many think this means a radical separation of religion and politics. Some have gone so far as to suggest that religion should be entirely personal and private, kept out of public life and institutions like public schools. That is incorrect: Jefferson wanted to protect states’ freedom of religion from federal government control and religious groups’ freedom to tend to their internal matters of faith and practice without government interference generally. Unfortunately, Jefferson's phrase is probably more widely known than the actual text of the Constitution's First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.""}}</ref> a religious minority that was concerned about the dominant position of the ] in ], who had ] to the newly elected president about their concerns. Jefferson wrote back: | |||
===Flag desecration=== | |||
<blockquote>Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", thus building ]. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists—The Final Letter, as Sent on January 1, 1802|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=February 13, 2014}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
The divisive issue of ] as a form of protest came before the Supreme Court in '']'', {{ussc|491|397|1989}}. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction of Gregory Lee Johnson for burning the flag by a 5-4 vote. Justice ] asserted that "if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Many members of Congress criticized the decision of the Court and the House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution denouncing the Court.<ref></ref> Congress passed a federal law barring flag burning, but the Supreme Court struck it down as well in '']'', {{ussc|496|310|1990}}. Many attempts have been made to amend the Constitution to allow Congress to prohibit the desecration of the flag. Since 1995, the ] has consistently mustered sufficient votes to pass in the House of Representatives, but not in the Senate. In 2000, the Senate voted 63–37 in favor of the amendment, which fell four votes short of the requisite two-thirds majority. In 2006, another attempt fell one vote short. | |||
In '']'' (1878) the Supreme Court used these words to declare that "it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured. Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order." Quoting from Jefferson's ] the court stated further in ''Reynolds'': | |||
===Obscenity=== | |||
<blockquote>In the preamble of this act{{nbsp}}... religious freedom is defined; and after a recital 'that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty,' it is declared 'that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.' In these two sentences is found the true distinction between what properly belongs to the church and what to the State.</blockquote> | |||
The federal government and the states have long been permitted to restrict ] or ]. While The Supreme Court has usually refused to give obscenity any protection under the First Amendment, pornography is subject to little regulation. However, the exact definition of obscenity and pornography has changed over time. | |||
] depicting an army of clergymen assaulting a fortress defended by newspaper editors including from ''Puck'', while atop a hill in the background a statue labeled "Constitution" that states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" can be seen.]] | |||
When it decided '']'' in 1896, the Supreme Court adopted the same obscenity standard as had been articulated in a famous British case, ''Regina v. Hicklin''. The ''Hicklin'' standard defined material as obscene if it tended "to deprave or corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall." The Court ruled in '']'', {{ussc|354|476|1957}} that the ''Hicklin'' test was inappropriate. Instead, the ''Roth'' test for obscenity was "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest." | |||
''Reynolds'' was the first Supreme Court decision to use the metaphor "a wall of separation between Church and State." American historian ] was consulted by Chief Justice ] in ''Reynolds'' regarding the views on establishment by the ]. Bancroft advised Waite to consult Jefferson and Waite then discovered the above quoted letter in a library after skimming through the index to Jefferson's collected works according to historian Don Drakeman.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Mark Movsesian (Director of the Center for Law and Religion at St. John's University)|title=How the Supreme Court Found the Wall|date=February 13, 2013 |url=https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/how-the-supreme-court-found-the-wall|publisher=]|access-date=June 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220144157/https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/how-the-supreme-court-found-the-wall/|archive-date=February 20, 2020}}</ref> | |||
The Establishment Clause<ref>{{cite web|title=Religious liberty in public life: Establishment Clause overview|url=http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/rel_liberty/establishment/index.aspx|publisher=First Amendment Center|access-date=May 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100905120418/http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/rel_liberty/establishment/index.aspx|archive-date=September 5, 2010}}</ref> forbids federal, state, and local laws whose purpose is "an establishment of religion." The term "establishment" denoted in general direct aid to the church by the government.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Vile|first1=John R.|title=Established Churches in Early America|url=https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/801/established-churches-in-early-america|publisher=The First Amendment Encyclopedia presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies.|access-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200803125206/https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/801/established-churches-in-early-america|archive-date=August 3, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> In '']'' (1982) the Supreme Court stated that "the core rationale underlying the Establishment Clause is preventing 'a fusion of governmental and religious functions,' '']'', 374 U. S. 203, 374 U. S. 222 (1963)."<ref>{{cite web |title=Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc., 459 U.S. 116 (1982) at 126-127 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/459/116/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 5, 2022 |date=December 13, 1982}}</ref> The Establishment Clause acts as a double security, for its aim is as well the prevention of religious control over government as the prevention of political control over religion.<ref name="20021226ReligiousFreedomEducationProject" /> The First Amendment's framers knew that intertwining government with religion could lead to bloodshed or oppression, because this happened too often historically. To prevent this dangerous development they set up the Establishment Clause as a line of demarcation between the functions and operations of the institutions of religion and government in society.<ref name="20200524LincolnUniversityFreedomofReligion" /> The ] as well as the state governments are prohibited from establishing or sponsoring religion,<ref name="20021226ReligiousFreedomEducationProject" /> because, as observed by the Supreme Court in '']'' (1970), the 'establishment' of a religion historically implied sponsorship, financial support, and active involvement of the ] in ].<ref name="2017FirstAmendmentEncyclopedia1970Waltz">{{cite web|author1=Geoff McGovern|title=''Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York'' (1970)|publisher=The First Amendment Encyclopedia presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies|access-date=June 14, 2020|archive-date=June 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614173057/https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/783/walz-v-tax-commission-of-the-city-of-new-york|url=https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/783/walz-v-tax-commission-of-the-city-of-new-york}}</ref> The Establishment Clause thus serves to ensure laws, as said by Supreme Court in '']'' (1970), which are "secular in purpose, evenhanded in operation, and neutral in primary impact".<ref name="auto"/> | |||
Justice ], in '']'', {{ussc|378|184|1964}}, famously stated that, although he could not precisely define pornography, "]." | |||
The First Amendment's prohibition on an establishment of religion includes many things from prayer in widely varying government settings over financial aid for religious individuals and institutions to comment on religious questions.<ref name=":4"/> The Supreme Court stated in this context: "In these varied settings, issues of about interpreting inexact Establishment Clause language, like difficult interpretative issues generally, arise from the tension of competing values, each constitutionally respectable, but none open to realization to the logical limit."<ref name=":4"/> The ] observes that, absent some common interpretations by jurists, the precise meaning of the Establishment Clause is unclear and that decisions by the United Supreme Court relating to the Establishment Clause often are by 5–4 votes.<ref name="20200415NatConstCentHamiltonMcConnell">{{cite web|author1=Marci A. Hamilton|author2=Michael McConnell|title=Common Interpretation: The Establishment Clause|url=https://constitutioncenter.org/ic-2019/interpretation/amendment-i/interps/264|publisher=]|access-date=May 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415042843/https://constitutioncenter.org/ic-2019/interpretation/amendment-i/interps/264|archive-date=April 15, 2020}}</ref> The Establishment Clause, however, reflects a widely held consensus that there should be no ] after the ].<ref name="20200415NatConstCentHamiltonMcConnell" /> Against this background the National Constitution Center states: | |||
The ''Roth'' test was expanded when the Court decided '']'', {{ussc|413|15|1973}}. Under the ], a work is obscene if it would be found appealing to the prurient interest by an average person applying contemporary community standards, depicts ] in a patently offensive way and has no serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. Note that "community" standards—not national standards—are applied whether the material appeals to the prurient interest; thus, material may be deemed obscene in one locality but not in another. National standards, however, are applied whether the material is of value. ] is not subject to the ''Miller'' test, as the Supreme Court decided in '']'', {{ussc|458|747|1982}}. The Court thought that the government's interest in protecting children from abuse was paramount. | |||
<blockquote>Virtually all jurists agree that it would violate the Establishment Clause for the government to compel attendance or financial support of a religious institution as such, for the government to interfere with a religious organization's selection of clergy or religious doctrine; for religious organizations or figures acting in a religious capacity to exercise governmental power; or for the government to extend benefits to some religious entities and not others without adequate secular justification.<ref name="20200415NatConstCentHamiltonMcConnell" /></blockquote> | |||
Originally, the First Amendment applied only to the federal government, and some states continued official state religions after ratification. ], for example, was officially Congregational until the 1830s.<ref name=EB>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/208044/First-Amendment/296558/The-establishment-clause|title=First Amendment|author=Eugene Volokh|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=April 11, 2013|archive-date=May 12, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512163336/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/208044/First-Amendment/296558/The-establishment-clause|url-status=live}}</ref> In '']'' (1947), the Supreme Court ] the Establishment Clause (i.e., made it apply against the states): | |||
Personal possession of obscene material in the home may not be prohibited by law. In writing for the Court in the case of '']'', {{ussc|394|557|1969}}, Justice ] wrote, "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch." However, it is not unconstitutional for the government to prevent the mailing or sale of obscene items, though they may be viewed only in private. '']'', {{ussc|535|234|2002}}, further upheld these rights by invalidating the ], holding that, because the act "rohibit child pornography that does not depict an actual child..." it was overly broad and unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote: "First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought." | |||
<blockquote>The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion to another{{nbsp}}... in the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between church and State'.{{nbsp}}... That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.<ref>Daniel L. Driesbach, ''Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State'' NYU Press 2002, unpaginated.</ref></blockquote> | |||
] ], a Jesuit missionary in the left and colonists meeting the people of the Yaocomico branch of the Piscatawy Indian Nation in ], the site of Maryland's first colonial settlement.<ref name=archaeology>, p. 52, UPCC book collections on Project MUSE, Julia A. King, publisher, Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2012, {{ISBN|9781572338883}}</ref>]] | |||
In '']'', 553 U.S. 285 (2008), by a vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court upheld the ]. The Court ruled that prohibiting offers to provide and requests to obtain child pornography did not violate the First Amendment, even if a person charged under the Act did not possess child pornography.<ref></ref> | |||
Citing Justice ] in '']'' (1961) the Supreme Court repeated its statement from '']'' (1947) in '']'' (1963): | |||
===Libel, slander, and private action=== | |||
] for defamatory speech or publications—]—traces its origins to English law. The nature of American defamation law was vitally changed by the Supreme Court in 1964, in deciding '']'' {{ussc|376|254|1964}}. '']'' had published an advertisement indicating that officials in ] had acted violently in suppressing the protests of African-Americans during the ]. The Montgomery Police Commissioner, L. B. Sullivan, sued the ''Times'' for libel claiming the advertisement damaged his reputation. The Supreme Court unanimously overruled the $500,000 judgment against the ''Times''. ] suggested that public officials may sue for libel only if the publisher published the statements in question with "]." | |||
<blockquote>We repeat and again reaffirm that neither a State nor the Federal Government can constitutionally force a person 'to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.' Neither can it constitutionally pass laws or impose requirements which aid all religions as against non-believers, and neither can it aid those religions based on a belief in the existence of God as against those religions founded on different beliefs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963), at 220. |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/374/203/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=September 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230911200227/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/374/203/ |archive-date=September 11, 2023 |date=June 17, 1963}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
The actual malice standard applies to both public officials and public figures, including celebrities. Though the details vary from state to state, private individuals normally need only to prove the negligence of the defendant. | |||
At the core of the Establishment Clause lays the core principle of denominational neutrality.<ref>{{cite web|author=Elena Kagan|title=Jefferson S. Dunn, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, Applicant v. Domineque Hakim Marcelle Ray on Application Number 18A815 to vacate stay|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18a815_3d9g.pdf |publisher=United States Supreme Court|access-date=August 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806093422/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18a815_3d9g.pdf|archive-date=August 6, 2020|date=February 7, 2019}}</ref> In '']'' (1968) the Supreme Court outlined the broad principle of denominational neutrality mandated by the First Amendment: "Government in our democracy, state and national, must be neutral in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice. It may not be hostile to any religion or to the advocacy of no-religion, and it may not aid, foster, or promote one religion or religious theory against another or even against the militant opposite. The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion."<ref>{{cite web|title=Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968), at 103–104|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/393/97/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=August 20, 2020|date=November 12, 1968}}</ref> The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is, according to the Supreme Court in ''Larson v. Valente'', {{ussc|456|228|1982}}, that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.<ref>{{cite web|title=Larson v. Valente, 456 U.S. 228 (1982), at 244|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/456/228/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=August 20, 2020|date=April 21, 1982}}</ref> In '']'' (1952) the Supreme Court further observed: "Government may not finance religious groups nor undertake religious instruction nor blend secular and sectarian education nor use secular institutions to force one or some religion on any person. But we find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence. The government must be neutral when it comes to competition between sects. It may not thrust any sect on any person. It may not make a religious observance compulsory. It may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take religious instruction. But it can close its doors or suspend its operations as to those who want to repair to their religious sanctuary for worship or instruction."<ref>{{cite web|title=Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952), at 314|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/343/306/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=August 20, 2020|date=April 28, 1952}}</ref> In '']'' (2005) the Court explained that when the government acts with the ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing religion, then it violates that central Establishment Clause value of official religious neutrality, because there is no neutrality when the government's ostensible object is to take sides.<ref>{{cite web|title=McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky., 545 U.S. 844 (2005), at Part II A|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/545/844/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 8, 2020|date=June 27, 2005}}</ref> | |||
In ''Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Association, Inc. v. Bresler'', {{ussc|398|6|1970}}, the Supreme Court ruled that a ] article, which quoted a visitor to a city council meeting who characterized ''Bresler's'' aggressive stance in negotiating with the city as "blackmail", was not libelous since nobody could believe anyone was claiming that ''Bresler'' had committed the crime of blackmail and that the statement was essentially hyperbole (i.e., obviously an opinion). | |||
In '']'' (1961), the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from ]. The Supreme Court in the same case made it also clear that state governments and the federal government are prohibited from passing laws or imposing requirements which aid all religions as against non-believers, as well as aiding those religions based on a belief in the existence of God as against those religions founded on different beliefs. In '']'' (1994),<ref>{{ussc|name=Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet|512|687|1994}}.</ref> the Court concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion."<ref>''Grumet'', 512 U.S. at 703.</ref> In a series of cases in the first decade of the 2000s—'']'' (2005),<ref>{{ussc|name=Van Orden v. Perry|volume=545|page=677|year=2005}}.</ref> '']'' (2005),<ref>{{ussc|name=McCreary County v. ACLU|volume=545|page=844|year=2005}}.</ref> and '']'' (2010)<ref>{{ussc|name=Salazar v. Buono|volume=559|page=700|year=2010}}.</ref>—the Court considered the issue of religious monuments on federal lands without reaching a majority reasoning on the subject. | |||
The Supreme Court ruled in '']'' {{ussc|418|323|1974}}, opinions could not be considered defamatory. It is thus permissible to suggest, for instance, that someone is a bad lawyer, but not permissible to falsely declare that the lawyer is ignorant of the law: the former constitutes a statement of values, but the latter is a statement alleging a fact. | |||
====Separationists==== | |||
More recently, in '']'', {{ussc|497|1|1990}}, the Supreme Court backed off from the protection from "opinion" announced in ''Gertz''. The court in ''Milkovich'' specifically held that there is no wholesale exemption to defamation law for statements labeled "opinion," but instead that a statement must be provably false (falsifiable) before it can be the subject of a libel suit. | |||
] ] in 1802 of "a wall of separation".<ref name=everson />]] | |||
'']'', {{ussc|485|46|1988}}, extended the "actual malice" standard to intentional infliction of emotional distress in a ruling which protected a ]. In the ruling, "actual malice" was described as "knowledge that the statement was false or with reckless disregard whether or not it was true." | |||
''Everson'' used the metaphor of a wall of ], derived from the correspondence of President ]. It had been long established in the decisions of the Supreme Court, beginning with ''Reynolds v. United States'' (1878), when the Court reviewed the history of the early Republic in deciding the extent of the liberties of Mormons. Chief Justice Morrison Waite, who consulted the historian ], also discussed at some length the ''Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments'' by James Madison,<ref name="Memorial&Remonstrance">{{cite web|last1=Madison|first1=James|title=Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious AssessmentsPapers|url=http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions43.html|website=The Founders' Constitution|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=January 26, 2017|pages=8:298–304|date=June 20, 1785}}</ref> who drafted the First Amendment; Madison used the metaphor of a "great barrier".<ref>Edward Mannino: ''Shaping America: the Supreme Court and American society'', University of South Carolina Press, 2000; p. 149; Daniel L. Driesbach, ''Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State'' NYU Press 2002, unpaginated; Chap. 7.</ref> | |||
Ordinarily, the First Amendment only applies to prohibit direct government censorship. The protection from libel suits recognizes that the power of the state is needed to enforce a libel judgment between private persons. The Supreme Court's scrutiny of defamation suits is thus sometimes considered part of a broader trend in U.S. jurisprudence away from the strict state action requirement, and into the application of First Amendment principles when private actors invoke state power. | |||
In ''Everson'', the Court adopted Jefferson's words.<ref name=everson>"In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect "a wall of separation between church and State". from </ref> The Court has affirmed it often, with majority, but not unanimous, support. Warren Nord, in ''Does God Make a Difference?'', characterized the general tendency of the dissents as a weaker reading of the First Amendment; the dissents tend to be "less concerned about the dangers of establishment and less concerned to protect free exercise rights, particularly of religious minorities".<ref>Warren A. Nord, '''', Oxford University Press, 2010.</ref> | |||
Likewise, the ] is a rule of law that often prohibits the application of antitrust law to statements made by competitors before public bodies: a monopolist may freely go before the city council and urge the denial of its competitor's building permit without being subject to ] liability. This principle is being applied to litigation outside the antitrust context, including state tort suits for intentional interference with business relations and ]. | |||
Beginning with ''Everson'', which permitted New Jersey school boards to pay for transportation to parochial schools, the Court has used various tests to determine when the wall of separation has been breached. ''Everson'' laid down the test that establishment existed when aid was given to religion, but that the transportation was justifiable because the benefit to the children was more important. | |||
The constitutions of most of the several states also provide free speech protections analogous to that of the U.S. Constitution. Some states, such as California, have treated their local constitutional protections as being more expansive than that of the U.S. Constitution. California's ] doctrine, prohibits private property owners whose property is equivalent to a traditional public forum (often shopping malls and grocery stores) from enforcing their private property rights to exclude political speakers and petition-gatherers. | |||
] called in his concurrence opinion in '']'' (1948) for a strict separation between state and church: "Separation means separation, not something less. Jefferson's metaphor in describing the relation between Church and State speaks of a 'wall of separation', not of a fine line easily overstepped. ... 'The great American principle of eternal separation'—]'s phrase bears repetition—is one of the vital reliances of our Constitutional system for assuring unities among our people stronger than our diversities. It is the Court's duty to enforce this principle in its full integrity."<ref>'']'', {{Ussc|333|203|1948|el=no}}</ref> | |||
The Pruneyard doctrine ]s protesters, who would otherwise be ]ers, from being ejected from the property, as would other trespassers. Moreover, the doctrine deprives the property owner of one of their rights, as well as forcing them to allow their premises to become a forum for speech for which they do not approve.<ref>''PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins'', {{ussc|447|74|1980}}; See also ''Drye v. United States'', {{ussc|528|49|1999}} (Ginsburg, J., speaking for a unanimous court, explaining the well-known principle that the right to possess property can be defined as the right to exclude others from it)</ref>{{Request quotation|date=February 2009}} | |||
In the school prayer cases of the early 1960s '']'' and '']'', aid seemed irrelevant. The Court ruled on the basis that a legitimate action both served a secular purpose and did not ''primarily'' assist religion. | |||
The U.S. Supreme Court has never interpreted the First Amendment as having the same power to alter private property rights, or provide any other protection against purely private action. When considering private authority figures (such as a child's parents or an employee's employer), Constitutional free speech provides no protection. A private authority figure may reserve the right to censor their subordinate's speech, or discriminate on the basis of speech, without any legal consequences. For example, per the ] doctrine, an employee may be fired from their occupation for speaking out against a politician that the employer likes. | |||
In '']'' (1970), the Court ruled that a legitimate action could not entangle government with religion. In '']'' (1971), these points were combined into the ], declaring that an action was an establishment if:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/11/us/excerpts-from-ruling-on-use-of-education-money.html|title=Excerpts From Ruling on Use of Education Money|date=June 11, 1998|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 3, 2013}}</ref> | |||
# the statute (or practice) lacked a secular purpose; | |||
# its principal or primary effect advanced or inhibited religion; or | |||
# it fostered an excessive government entanglement with religion. | |||
The ''Lemon'' test has been criticized by justices and legal scholars, but it has remained the predominant means by which the Court enforced the Establishment Clause.<ref name="Kritzer, H. M 2003">{{cite journal|last1=Kritzer|first1=H. M.|last2=Richards|first2=M. J.|year=2003|title=Jurisprudential Regimes and Supreme Court Decisionmaking: The Lemon Regime and Establishment Clause Cases|journal=Law & Society Review|volume=37|issue=4|pages=827–40|doi=10.1046/j.0023-9216.2003.03704005.x}}</ref> In '']'' (1997), the entanglement prong of the ''Lemon'' test was converted to simply being a factor in determining the effect of the challenged statute or practice.<ref name="20200524LincolnUniversityFreedomofReligion">{{cite web|url=http://www.lincoln.edu/criminaljustice/hr/Religion.htm|title=Freedom of Religion|publisher=]|access-date=May 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910174427/http://www.lincoln.edu/criminaljustice/hr/Religion.htm|archive-date=September 10, 2020}}</ref> In '']'' (2002), the opinion of the Court considered secular purpose and the absence of primary effect; a concurring opinion saw both cases as having treated entanglement as part of the primary purpose test.<ref name="Kritzer, H. M 2003"/> Further tests, such as the ] and ], have been developed to determine whether a government action violated the Establishment Clause.<ref>For the ] see '']'', {{Ussc|465|668|1984|el=no}}.</ref><ref>For the ] see '']'', {{Ussc|505|577|1992|el=no}}.</ref> | |||
In ''Lemon'', the Court stated that the separation of church and state could never be absolute: "Our prior holdings do not call for total separation between church and state; total separation is not possible in an absolute sense. Some relationship between government and religious organizations is inevitable", the court wrote. "Judicial caveats against entanglement must recognize that the line of separation, far from being a 'wall', is a blurred, indistinct, and variable barrier depending on all the circumstances of a particular relationship."<ref>'']'', 403 U.S. 602 (1971)</ref> | |||
After the Supreme Court ruling in the coach praying case of '']'' (2022), the Lemon Test may have been replaced or complemented with a reference to historical practices and understandings.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lupu |first1=Ira |last2=Tuttle |first2=Robert |date=28 June 2022 |title=Kennedy v. Bremerton School District – A Sledgehammer to the Bedrock of Nonestablishment |url=https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/kennedy-v-bremerton-school-district-a-sledgehammer-to-the-bedrock-of-nonestablishment/ |url-status=live |access-date=20 Aug 2022 |website=American Constitution Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123203023/https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/kennedy-v-bremerton-school-district-a-sledgehammer-to-the-bedrock-of-nonestablishment/|archive-date=November 23, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hutchison |first=Harry |date=29 June 2022 |title=The ACLJ Participates in Another Supreme Court Victory as the Court Upholds Coach Kennedy's Right to Pray after Football Games in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District |url=https://aclj.org/religious-liberty/the-aclj-participates-in-another-supreme-court-victory-as-the-court-upholds-coach-kennedys-right-to-pray-after-football-games-in-kennedy-v-bremerton-school-district |url-status=live |access-date=20 Aug 2022 |publisher=American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123203522/https://aclj.org/religious-liberty/the-aclj-participates-in-another-supreme-court-victory-as-the-court-upholds-coach-kennedys-right-to-pray-after-football-games-in-kennedy-v-bremerton-school-district|archive-date=November 23, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedy v. Bremerton School District |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=Supreme Court of the United States }}</ref> | |||
====Accommodationists==== | |||
],<ref>{{cite web|author1=Michael P. Bobic|author2=John R. Vile|title=Accommodationism and Religion|url=https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/825/accommodationism-and-religion|publisher=The First Amendment Encyclopedia presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies|access-date=June 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614164258/https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/825/accommodationism-and-religion|archive-date=June 14, 2020|year=2009}}</ref> in contrast, argue along with Justice ] that "e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being."<ref name="Accommodationists" />{{efn|The quote from Justice William O. Douglas comes from his majority opinion in '']'' (1952). This case centered on a program by the state of New York which allowed children to leave school during school hours to receive religious instruction outside the school. In upholding the New York program Justice Douglas stated: "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being. We guarantee the freedom to worship as one chooses. We make room for as wide a variety of beliefs and creeds as the spiritual needs of man deem necessary. We sponsor an attitude on the part of government that shows no partiality to any one group and that lets each flourish according to the zeal of its adherents and the appeal of its dogma. When the state encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe. Government may not finance religious groups nor undertake religious instruction nor blend secular and sectarian education nor use secular institutions to force one or some religion on any person. But we find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence. The government must be neutral when it comes to competition between sects. It may not thrust any sect on any person. It may not make a religious observance compulsory. It may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take religious instruction. But it can close its doors or suspend its operations as to those who want to repair to their religious sanctuary for worship or instruction."<ref name="Benevolent Neutrality">{{cite web|last1=Vile|first1=John R.|title=Benevolent Neutrality|url=https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/826/benevolent-neutrality|publisher=The First Amendment Encyclopedia presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies.|access-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200803122503/https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/826/benevolent-neutrality|archive-date=August 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952), at 313–314|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/343/306/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=August 20, 2020|date=April 28, 1952}}</ref>}} Furthermore, as observed by Chief Justice ] in ''Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York'' (1970) with respect to the separation of church and state: "No perfect or absolute separation is really possible; the very existence of the Religion Clauses is an involvement of sorts—one that seeks to mark boundaries to avoid excessive entanglement."<ref name="2017FirstAmendmentEncyclopedia1970Waltz"/> He also coined the term "benevolent neutrality" as a combination of neutrality and accommodationism in ''Walz'' to characterize a way to ensure that there is no conflict between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.<ref name="Benevolent Neutrality"/>{{efn|Burger explained the term "benevolent neutrality" with respect to the interplay of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause in this way in ''Walz'': "The course of constitutionality neutrality in this area cannot be an absolutely straight line; rigidity could well defeat the basic purpose of these provisions, which is to insure that no religion be sponsored or favored, none commanded, and none inhibited. The general principle deducible from the First Amendment and all that has been said by the Court is this: that we will not tolerate either governmentally established religion or governmental interference with religion. Short of those expressly proscribed governmental acts there is room for play in the joints productive of a benevolent neutrality which will permit religious exercise to exist without sponsorship and without interference."<ref name="Benevolent Neutrality"/>}} Burger's successor, ], called for the abandonment of the "wall of separation between church and State" metaphor in '']'' (1985), because he believed this metaphor was based on bad history and proved itself useless as a guide to judging.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985)|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=June 25, 2020|date=June 4, 1985}}</ref> | |||
David Shultz has said that accommodationists claim the ''Lemon'' test should be applied selectively.<ref name="Accommodationists">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_f6Oo9H3YsC|title=Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court|author=David Shultz|year=2005|publisher=]|page=|isbn=9780816067398|quote=Accommodationists, on the other hand, read the establishment clause as prohibiting Congress from declaring a national religion or preferring one to another, but laws do not have to be shorn of morality and history to be declared constitutional. They apply ''Lemon'' only selectively because 'e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being' as Justice Douglas wrote in ''Zorach v. Clauson'' 343 U.S. 306 (1952).|access-date=December 31, 2007}}</ref> As such, for many ], the Establishment Clause solely prevents the establishment of a ], not public acknowledgements of God nor 'developing policies that encourage general religious beliefs that do not favor a particular sect and are consistent with the secular government's goals'.<ref name="Oxford">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXTziqxDgEQC&q=establishment+clause+conservative+liberal&pg=PT226|title=Does God Make a Difference?|author=Warren A. Nord|date=November 10, 2010|publisher=]|isbn=9780199890224|quote=First Amendment Politics: At the risk of oversimplifying a very complicated situation, I suggest that conservative justices tend to favor a weak reading of both the Free Exercise and Establishment clause, while liberals tend to favor strong readings. That is, conservative justices have been less concerned about the dangers of establishment and less concerned to protect free exercise rights, particularly of religious minorities. Liberals, by contrast, have been opposed to any possibility of a religious establishment and they have been relatively more concerned to protect the free exercise rights of minorities.|access-date=December 31, 2007}}</ref><ref name="Devigne">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CayIq_Ud5j0C&q=conservatives+establishment+clause&pg=PA108|title=Recasting Conservatism: Oakeshott, Strauss, and the Response to Postmodernism|author=Robert Devigne|date=August 28, 1996|publisher=]|isbn=0300068689|quote=Conservatives claim that liberals misinterpret the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment. They point to the opinion written for the Supreme Court by Hugo Black in ''Everson v. Board of Education'': "The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: neither a state nor a Federal government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another." The establishment clause, conservatives insist, precludes the national state from promoting any religious denomination but does not prohibit state governments and local communities from developing policies that encourage general religious beliefs that do not favor a particular sect and are consistent with the secular government's goals.|access-date=December 31, 2007}}</ref> In '']'' (1984), the Supreme Court observed that the "concept of a "wall" of separation between church and state is a useful metaphor, but is not an accurate description of the practical aspects of the relationship that in fact exists. The Constitution does not require complete separation of church and state; it affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any."<ref>{{cite web|title=Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984)|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/465/668/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=May 28, 2020}}</ref> | |||
===Free exercise of religion=== | |||
{{See also|Free Exercise Clause}} | |||
] in ], Massachusetts]] | |||
The acknowledgement of religious freedom as the first right protected in the Bill of Rights points toward the American founders' understanding of the importance of religion to human, social, and political flourishing. The First Amendment makes clear that it sought to protect "the free exercise" of religion, or what might be called "free exercise equality."<ref name="20191101FarrReligousFreedom" /> Free exercise is the liberty of persons to reach, hold, practice and change beliefs freely according to the dictates of conscience. The Free Exercise Clause prohibits governmental interference with religious belief and, within limits, religious practice.<ref name="20021226ReligiousFreedomEducationProject" /> "Freedom of religion means freedom to hold an opinion or belief, but not to take action in violation of social duties or subversive to good order."<ref>{{cite web|title=Supreme Court Cases: Reynolds v. United States, 1879|url=http://www.phschool.com/atschool/ss_web_codes/supreme_court_cases/reynolds.html|website=PHSchool.com|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall|access-date=August 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019100948/http://www.phschool.com/atschool/ss_web_codes/supreme_court_cases/reynolds.html|archive-date=October 19, 2019}}</ref> The clause withdraws from legislative power, ] and ], the exertion of any restraint on the free exercise of religion. Its purpose is to secure religious liberty in the individual by prohibiting any invasions thereof by civil authority.<ref>{{cite web |title=Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963) at 222-223 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/374/203/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 5, 2022 |date=June 17, 1963}}</ref> "The door of the Free Exercise Clause stands tightly closed against any governmental regulation of religious beliefs as such, '']'', 310 U. S. 296, 310 U. S. 303. Government may neither compel affirmation of a repugnant belief, '']'', 367 U. S. 488; nor penalize or discriminate against individuals or groups because they hold religious views abhorrent to the authorities, '']'', 345 U. S. 67; nor employ the taxing power to inhibit the dissemination of particular religious views, '']'', 319 U. S. 105; ''Follett v. McCormick'', 321 U. S. 573; cf. '']'', 297 U. S. 233."<ref>{{cite web |title=Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963) at 402 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/374/398/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 5, 2022 |date=June 17, 1963}}</ref> | |||
The Free Exercise Clause offers a double protection, for it is a shield not only against outright prohibitions with respect to the free exercise of religion, but also against penalties on the free exercise of religion and against indirect governmental coercion.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery, 485 U.S. 439 (1988), at 450|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/485/439/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=July 23, 2020|date=April 19, 1988}}</ref> Relying on '']'' (1990)<ref>{{cite web|title=''Employment Div. v. Smith'', 494 U.S. 872 (1990), at 494|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/494/872/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|date=April 17, 1990|access-date=July 23, 2020|quote="The free exercise of religion means, first and foremost, the right to believe and profess whatever religious doctrine one desires. Thus, the First Amendment obviously excludes all "governmental regulation of religious beliefs as such." '']'' supra, 374 U.S. at 374 U. S. 402. The government may not compel affirmation of religious belief, see '']'', 367 U. S. 488 (1961), punish the expression of religious doctrines it believes to be false, '']'', 322 U. S. 78, 322 U. S. 86–88 (1944), impose special disabilities on the basis of religious views or religious status, see '']'', 435 U. S. 618 (1978); '']'', 345 U. S. 67, 345 U. S. 69 (1953); cf. ''Larson v. Valente'', 456 U. S. 228, 456 U. S. 245 (1982), or lend its power to one or the other side in controversies over religious authority or dogma, see '']'', 393 U. S. 440, 393 U. S. 445–452 (1969); ''Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral'', 344 U. S. 94, 344 U. S. 95–119 (1952); '']'', 426 U. S. 696, 426 U. S. 708–725 (1976)."}}</ref> and quoting from '']'' (1993)<ref>{{cite web|title=''Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah'', 508 U.S. 520 (1993), at 533 and 542–543|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/508/520/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=July 23, 2020|date=June 11, 1993|quote=" In '']'', 435 U. S. 618 (1978), for example, we invalidated a state law that disqualified members of the clergy from holding certain public offices, because it "impose special disabilities on the basis of ... religious status," '']'', 494 U. S., at 877. ... The Free Exercise Clause "protect religious observers against unequal treatment," ''Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla.'', 480 U. S. 136, 148 (1987) (], concurring in judgment), and inequality results when a legislature decides that the governmental interests it seeks to advance are worthy of being pursued only against conduct with a religious motivation."}}</ref> the Supreme Court stated in '']'' (2017) that religious observers are protected against unequal treatment by virtue of the Free Exercise Clause and laws which target the religious for "special disabilities" based on their "religious status" must be covered by the application of ].<ref>{{cite web|title=''Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer'', 582 U.S. ___ (2017), Opinion of the Court, Part II|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-577/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=July 23, 2020|date=June 26, 2017}}</ref> | |||
In '']'' (1878), the ] found that while laws cannot interfere with religious belief and opinions, laws can regulate religious practices like ] or the obsolete Hindu practice of ]. The Court stated that to rule otherwise, "would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government would exist only in name under such circumstances."<ref>{{cite web|title=Reynolds v. United States—98 U.S. 145 (1878)|url=http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/98/145/case.html|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center}}</ref> If the purpose or effect of a law is to impede the observance of one or all religions, or is to discriminate invidiously between religions, that law is constitutionally invalid even though the burden may be characterized as being only indirect. But if the State regulates conduct by enacting a general law within its power, the purpose and effect of which is to advance the State's secular goals, the statute is valid despite its indirect burden on religious observance unless the State may accomplish its purpose by means which do not impose such a burden.<ref>{{cite web |title=Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599 (1961), at 607 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/366/599/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 5, 2022 |date=May 29, 1961}}</ref> | |||
], in South Dakota, is a sacred site for over 30 ].]] | |||
In '']'' (1940), the Court held that the ] ] the Free Exercise Clause to the states. While the right to have religious beliefs is absolute, the freedom to act on such beliefs is not absolute.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cantwell v. Connecticut—310 U.S. 296 (1940), at 303|url=http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/310/296/case.html|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=August 25, 2013}}</ref> Religious freedom is a universal right of all human beings and all religions, providing for the free exercise of religion or ''free exercise equality''. Due to its nature as fundamental to the American founding and to the ordering of human society, it is rightly seen as a capricious right, i.e. universal, broad, and deep—though not absolute.<ref name="20191101FarrReligousFreedom">{{Cite web|title=What in the World is Religious Freedom?|url=https://www.religiousfreedominstitute.org/blog/what-in-the-world-is-religious-freedom|last=Farr|first=Thomas|date=November 1, 2019|website=Religious Freedom Institute|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514061105/https://www.religiousfreedominstitute.org/blog/what-in-the-world-is-religious-freedom|archive-date=May 14, 2020}}</ref> ] put it clearly in '']'' (1890): "However free the exercise of religion may be, it must be subordinate to the criminal laws of the country, passed with reference to actions regarded by general consent as properly the subjects of punitive legislation."<ref>{{cite court|litigants=Davis v. Beeson|vol=333|reporter=U.S.|pinpoint=342–343|court=U.S.|date=1890|url=http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep133/usrep133333/usrep133333.pdf}}</ref> Furthermore, the Supreme Court in '']'' made clear that "the right of free exercise does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a "valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes)." '']'', 455 U. S. 252, 455 U. S. 263, n. 3 (1982) (], concurring in judgment); ''see ], supra'', 310 U.S. at 310 U. S. 595 (collecting cases)."{{efn|The inofficial, non-binding ] for '']'' states: "Although a State would be "prohibiting the free exercise " in violation of the Clause if it sought to ban the performance of (or abstention from) physical acts solely because of their religious motivation, the Clause does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a law that incidentally forbids (or requires) the performance of an act that his religious belief requires (or forbids) if the law is not specifically directed to religious practice and is otherwise constitutional as applied to those who engage in the specified act for nonreligious reasons. ''See, e.g., ],'' 98 U. S. 145, 98 U. S. 166–167. The only decisions in which this Court has held that the First Amendment bars application of a neutral, generally applicable law to religiously motivated action are distinguished on the ground that they involved not the Free Exercise Clause alone, but that Clause in conjunction with other constitutional protections. ''See, e.g., ],'' 310 U. S. 296, 310 U. S. 304–307; ''],'' 406 U. S. 205. Pp. 494 U. S. 876–882."<ref>{{cite web|title=Employment Div. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), Syllabus at 872–872.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/494/872/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 10, 2020|date=April 17, 1990}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Employment Div. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), at 879.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/494/872/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=November 10, 2020|date=April 17, 1990}}</ref><ref name="20201103WashingtonPostFulton v. Philadelphia">{{cite news|author1=Michelle Boorstein|title=Religion: Religious conservatives hopeful new Supreme Court majority will redefine religious liberty precedents|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/11/03/supreme-court-religious-liberty-fulton-catholic-philadelphia-amy-coney-barrettt/|access-date=November 10, 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105125111/https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/11/03/supreme-court-religious-liberty-fulton-catholic-philadelphia-amy-coney-barrettt/|archive-date=November 5, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Smith'' also set the ]<ref name="20210617VoxMillhiser">{{cite web | url = https://www.vox.com/2021/6/17/22538645/supreme-court-fulton-philadelphia-lgbtq-catholic-social-services-foster-care-john-roberts-religion | title = An epic Supreme Court showdown over religion and LGBTQ rights ends in a whimper | first = Ian | last = Millhiser | date = June 17, 2021 | access-date = June 17, 2021 | work = ]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618192557/https://www.vox.com/2021/6/17/22538645/supreme-court-fulton-philadelphia-lgbtq-catholic-social-services-foster-care-john-roberts-religion|archive-date=June 18, 2021 }}</ref> "that laws affecting certain religious practices do not violate the right to free exercise of religion as long as the laws are neutral, generally applicable, and not motivated by animus to religion."<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.advocate.com/news/2021/6/17/what-supreme-court-ruling-foster-care-means-lgbtq-parents | title = What the Supreme Court Ruling on Foster Care Means for LGBTQ+ Parents | first = Trudy | last = Ring | date = June 17, 2021 | access-date = June 17, 2021 | work = ]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618164810/https://www.advocate.com/news/2021/6/17/what-supreme-court-ruling-foster-care-means-lgbtq-parents|archive-date=June 18, 2021 }}</ref> | |||
To accept any creed or the practice of any form of worship cannot be compelled by laws, because, as stated by the Supreme Court in '']'' (1961), the freedom to hold religious beliefs and opinions is absolute.<ref name="19610529Braunfeld" /> Federal or state legislation cannot therefore make it a crime to hold any religious belief or opinion due to the Free Exercise Clause.<ref name="19610529Braunfeld" /> Legislation by the United States or any constituent state of the United States which forces anyone to embrace any religious belief or to say or believe anything in conflict with his religious tenets is also barred by the Free Exercise Clause.<ref name="19610529Braunfeld">{{cite web|title=Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599 (1961) at 603|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/366/599/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=August 12, 2020|date=May 29, 1961}}</ref> Against this background, the Supreme Court stated that Free Exercise Clause broadly protects religious beliefs and opinions: | |||
<blockquote>The free exercise of religion means, first and foremost, the right to believe and profess whatever religious doctrine one desires. Thus, the First Amendment obviously excludes all "governmental regulation of religious beliefs as such." '']'' supra, 374 U.S. at 374 U. S. 402. The government may not compel affirmation of religious belief, see '']'', 367 U. S. 488 (1961), punish the expression of religious doctrines it believes to be false, '']'', 322 U. S. 78, 322 U. S. 86–88 (1944), impose special disabilities on the basis of religious views or religious status, see '']'', 435 U. S. 618 (1978); '']'', 345 U. S. 67, 345 U. S. 69 (1953); cf. ''Larson v. Valente'', 456 U. S. 228, 456 U. S. 245 (1982), or lend its power to one or the other side in controversies over religious authority or dogma, see '']'', 393 U. S. 440, 393 U. S. 445–452 (1969); ''Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral'', 344 U. S. 94, 344 U. S. 95–119 (1952); '']'', 426 U. S. 696, 426 U. S. 708–725 (1976). But the "exercise of religion" often involves not only ] and ] but the performance of (or abstention from) physical acts: assembling with others for a ], ], ], abstaining from certain foods or certain modes of transportation. It would be true, we think (though no case of ours has involved the point), that ] would be "prohibiting the free exercise " if it sought to ban such acts or abstentions only when they are engaged in for religious reasons, or only because of the religious belief that they display. It would doubtless be unconstitutional, for example, to ban the casting of "statues that are to be used for worship purposes," or to prohibit bowing down before a ]."<ref>{{cite web|title=''Employment Div. v. Smith'', 494 U.S. 872 (1990), at 877-878|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/494/872/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|date=April 17, 1990|access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
In '']'' (1963),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|374|398|1963}}</ref> the Supreme Court required states to meet the "]" standard when refusing to accommodate religiously motivated conduct. This meant ] regarding such a refusal. The case involved Adele Sherbert, who was denied unemployment benefits by ] because she refused to work on Saturdays, something forbidden by her ] faith.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425002298.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509081556/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425002298.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Sherbert v. Verner 374 U.S. 398 (1963)|author=Richard E. Morgan|author-link=Richard E. Morgan|date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> In '']'' (1972), the Court ruled that a law which "unduly burdens the practice of religion" without a compelling interest, even though it might be "neutral on its face", would be unconstitutional.<ref>'']'', {{ussc|406|205|1972}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425002736.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509120133/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425002736.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Wisconsin v. Yoder 406 U.S. 205 (1972)|author=Richard E. Morgan|date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> | |||
], the ] cathedral in Washington, D.C.]] | |||
The need for a compelling governmental interest was narrowed in '']'' (1990),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|494|872|1990}}</ref> which held no such interest was required under the Free Exercise Clause regarding a neutral law of general applicability that happens to affect a religious practice, as opposed to a law that targets a particular religious practice (which does require a compelling governmental interest).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425000842.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509102055/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425000842.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith 484 U.S. 872 (1990)| author=John G. West Jr. |date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> In '']'' (1993),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|508|520|1993}}</ref> in which the meaning of "neutral law of general applicability" was elaborated by the court,<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), at 531–547.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/508/520/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=December 5, 2020|date=June 11, 1993}}</ref> the Supreme Court ruled Hialeah had passed an ordinance banning ritual slaughter, a practice central to the ] religion, while providing exceptions for some practices such as the ]. Since the ordinance was not "generally applicable", ], which it failed to have, and so was declared unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000040.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509112233/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000040.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah 1993|date=January 1, 2001|work=Supreme Court Drama: Cases that Changed America|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> In this case the Supreme Court also stated that inquiries whether laws discriminate based on religion does not end with the text of the laws at issue. Facial neutrality of laws (i.e. laws which are apparently neutral in their language but in reality discriminate against a particular group) is not determinative in these inquiries, because both the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause extends beyond facial discrimination.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|title=Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), at 534.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/508/520/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=October 25, 2020|date=June 11, 1993}}</ref> The Supreme Court explained that "fficial action that targets religious conduct for distinctive treatment cannot be shielded by mere compliance with the requirement of facial neutrality" and "he Free Exercise Clause protects against governmental hostility which is masked as well as overt."<ref name=":3"/> The neutrality of a law is also suspect if First Amendment freedoms are curtailed to prevent isolated collateral harms not themselves prohibited by direct regulation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), at 539.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/508/520/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=December 5, 2020|date=June 11, 1993}}</ref> The Court also observed: "The Free Exercise Clause "protect religious observers against unequal treatment," ''Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla.'', 480 U. S. 136, 148 (1987) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment), and inequality results when a legislature decides that the governmental interests it seeks to advance are worthy of being pursued only against conduct with a religious motivation. The principle that government, in pursuit of legitimate interests, cannot in a selective manner impose burdens only on conduct motivated by religious belief is essential to the protection of the rights guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause."<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), at 542–543.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/508/520/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=December 5, 2020|date=June 11, 1993}}</ref> | |||
], and some churches in the U.S. take strong stances on political subjects.]] | |||
In 1993, the Congress passed the ] (RFRA), seeking to restore the compelling interest requirement applied in ''Sherbert'' and ''Yoder''. In '']'' (1997),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|521|507|1997}}</ref> the Court struck down the provisions of RFRA that forced state and local governments to provide protections exceeding those required by the First Amendment, on the grounds that while the Congress could enforce the Supreme Court's interpretation of a constitutional right, the Congress could not impose its own interpretation on states and localities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-58054592|title=The McCulloch theory of the Fourteenth Amendment: City of Boerne v. Flores and the original understanding of section 5|author=Steven A. Engel|date=October 1, 1999|publisher=The Yale Law Journal|via=|url-access=|access-date=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> Congress can enact legislation to expand First Amendment free exercise rights through its ], but to do so "there must be a congruence and proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end."<ref name="20201214CityofBoerneSeigenthalerMezey" /> The decision in ''City of Boerne'' struck down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act RFRA in so far as it applied to states and other local municipalities within them.,<ref name="20201214CityofBoerneSeigenthalerMezey">{{cite web|author1=Susan Gluck Mezey|title=''City of Boerne v. Flores'' (1997)|url=https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/725/city-of-boerne-v-flores|publisher=The First Amendment Encyclopedia presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies.|access-date=December 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028034145/https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/725/city-of-boerne-v-flores|archive-date=October 28, 2020|year=2009}}</ref> so that partly in response to it 21 states enacted ] since 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/state-rfra-statutes.aspx|title=State Religious Freedom Acts|work=National Conference of State Legislatures|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206155803/https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/state-rfra-statutes.aspx|archive-date=December 6, 2020|date=May 5, 2017}}</ref> According to the court's ruling in '']'' (2006),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|546|418|2006}}</ref> RFRA remains applicable to federal laws and so those laws must still have a "compelling interest."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2586600046.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509104802/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2586600046.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Freedom of Religion|date=January 1, 2006|work=American Law Yearbook|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> | |||
RFRA secures Congress’ view of the right to free exercise under the First Amendment, and it provides a remedy to redress violations of that right.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tanzin v. Tanvir, 592 U.S. ___ (2020), Opinion of the Court at page 1. |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-71_qol1.pdf |publisher=United States Supreme Court |access-date=December 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215042659/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-71_qol1.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2020|date=December 10, 2020}}</ref> The Supreme Court decided in light of this in '']'' (2020) that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act's express remedies provision permits litigants, when appropriate, to obtain money damages against federal officials in their individual capacities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tanzin v. Tanvir, 592 U.S. ___ (2020), Syllabus at page 1. |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-71_qol1.pdf |publisher=United States Supreme Court |access-date=December 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215042659/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-71_qol1.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2020|date=December 10, 2020}}</ref> This decision is significant "not only for the plaintiffs but also for cases involving violations of religious rights more broadly."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Howe |first1=Amy |title=Opinion analysis: Justices allow Muslim men placed on "no fly" list to sue FBI agents for money damage |url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/12/opinion-analysis-justices-allow-muslim-men-placed-on-no-fly-list-to-sue-fbi-agents-for-money-damages/ |publisher=SCOTUSblog |access-date=December 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211004427/https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/12/opinion-analysis-justices-allow-muslim-men-placed-on-no-fly-list-to-sue-fbi-agents-for-money-damages/ |archive-date=December 11, 2020 |date=December 10, 2020}}</ref> In the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case '']'' (1982) the Court declared: "Congress and the courts have been sensitive to the needs flowing from the Free Exercise Clause, but every person cannot be shielded from all the burdens incident to exercising every aspect of the right to practice religious beliefs. When followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity."<ref>{{cite web|title=United States v. Lee, 455 U.S. 252 (1982), at 261.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/455/252/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=December 5, 2020|date=February 23, 1982}}</ref><ref name="20191226Vox.comMillhiser">{{cite news |last1=Millhiser |first1=Ian |title=9 Supreme Court cases that shaped the 2010s |url=https://www.vox.com/2019/12/26/21024188/nine-supreme-court-citizens-united-obamacare-muslim-ban-religion |access-date=December 1, 2020 |publisher=] |date=December 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124073316/https://www.vox.com/2019/12/26/21024188/nine-supreme-court-citizens-united-obamacare-muslim-ban-religion |archive-date=November 24, 2020}}</ref> The Supreme Court in '']'' (1985) echoed this statement by quoting Judge ] from his 1953 case ''Otten v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co.'', 205 F.2d 58, 61 (CA2 1953): "The First Amendment ... gives no one the right to insist that, in pursuit of their own interests others must conform their conduct to his own religious necessities."<ref>{{cite web |title=Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc., 472 U.S. 703 (1985) at page 710. |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/703/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=December 14, 2020 |date=June 26, 1985}}</ref> In '']'' (2014) the Supreme Court had to decide, with a view to the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, "the profound cultural question of whether a private, profit-making business organized as a corporation can "exercise" religion and, if it can, how far that is protected from government interference."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Denniston|first1=Lyle|title=Argument preview: Religion, rights, and the workplace|url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2014/03/argument-preview-religion-rights-and-the-workplace/|publisher=]|access-date=December 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124115046/https://www.scotusblog.com/2014/03/argument-preview-religion-rights-and-the-workplace/|archive-date=November 24, 2020 |date=March 20, 2014}}</ref> The Court decided that closely held, for-profit corporations have free exercise rights under the RFRA,<ref>{{Cite web|last=De Vogue|first=Ariane|date=June 30, 2014|title=Hobby Lobby Wins Contraceptive Ruling in Supreme Court|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hobby-lobby-wins-contraceptive-ruling-supreme-court/story?id=24364311|website=ABC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207035857/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hobby-lobby-wins-contraceptive-ruling-supreme-court/story?id=24364311|archive-date=December 7, 2020}}</ref> but its decision was not based on the constitutional protections of the First Amendment.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Legislative Attorney Cynthia Brown|title=Free Exercise of Religion by Closely Held Corporations: Implications of ''Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.''|pages=1 and 8|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43654.pdf|publisher=]|access-date=December 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926090539/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43654.pdf|archive-date=September 26, 2020|date=November 12, 2015}}</ref> | |||
In '']'' (2004), the Court stated, "iven the historic and substantial state interest at issue, it cannot be concluded that the denial of funding for vocational religious instruction alone is inherently constitutionally suspect",<ref>'']'' {{ussc|540|712|2004}}</ref> explaining that denying funding a scholarship when it was going to be used for education in theology and when that state's constitution ] "was not presumptively unconstitutional, because the state was neither criminalizing nor penalizing the study of theology."<ref name="2180503EncyclopaediaBritannicaMadsen" /> The Court ruled therefore that a state has a "substantial state interest" in denying funding a scholarship when it was going to be used for education in theology and when that state's constitution forbids state aid to religious institutions.<ref name="2180503EncyclopaediaBritannicaMadsen">{{Cite web|last=Mawdsley|first=James|date=May 3, 2018|title=Locke v. Davey|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Locke-v-Davey|access-date=July 2, 2020|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref> In '']'' (2017),<ref>'']'', 582 U.S. ___ (2017)</ref> the Court ruled that denying a generally available public benefit on account of the religious nature of an institution violates the Free Exercise Clause.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer |url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-577 |website=Oyez |access-date=11 October 2021}}</ref> In '']'' (2020),<ref>'']'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020)</ref> the Court ruled that the Free Exercise Clause forbad a state from denying a ] on the basis of a Blaine Amendment in that state's constitution, which the Court said is subject to the "strictest scrutiny" and can only survive if it is "narrowly tailored" to promote "interests of the highest order".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Howe|first=Amy|date=June 30, 2020|title=Opinion analysis: Court rules that religious schools cannot be excluded from state funding for private schools|url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/06/opinion-analysis-court-rules-that-religious-schools-cannot-be-excluded-from-state-funding-for-private-schools/|access-date=July 2, 2020|website=]}}</ref> Citing '']'' (1988) the Supreme Court decided in the ''Espinoza '' follow-up case '']'' (2022) that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment protects against “indirect coercion or penalties on the free exercise of religion, not just outright prohibitions.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Carson v. Makin, 596 U.S. ___ (2022), Part II Section |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/596/20-1088/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=July 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623142929/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/596/20-1088/ |archive-date=June 23, 2022 |date=June 21, 2022}}</ref> | |||
==Freedom of speech and of the press== | |||
{{Further<!--Main is ONLY for summary-style overviews of a subarticle; Further is the correct template when "the section expounds a specific aspect of the topic instead of summarizing its article".-->|Freedom of speech in the United States|United States free speech exceptions}} | |||
] in Philadelphia]] | |||
The First Amendment broadly protects the rights of free speech and free press.<ref name="19720626MosleyOpinionOfTheCourt" /> Free speech means the free and public expression of opinions without censorship, interference, or restraint by the government.<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=freedom of speech |dictionary=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |edition=5th |year=2020 |url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Freedom+of+speech |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |access-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728051257/https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Freedom+of+speech |archive-date=July 28, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |title=freedom of speech |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freedom%20of%20speech |dictionary=] |access-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229134124/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freedom%20of%20speech |archive-date=February 29, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |title=free speech |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/free-speech |dictionary=] |access-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916143258/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/free-speech |archive-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary |title=freedom of speech |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/freedom-of-speech |dictionary=] |access-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616121744/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/freedom-of-speech |archive-date=June 16, 2019}}</ref> The term "freedom of speech" embedded in the First Amendment encompasses the decision what to say as well as what not to say.<ref>{{cite web |title=Riley v. National Federation of the Blind, 487 U.S. 781 (1988), at 796 – 797 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/487/781/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=July 28, 2020}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morillo |first1=Elaine |title=How Would an Absolute First Amendment Benefit Modern Society? |url=https://thesocialtalks.com/opinion/how-would-an-absolute-first-amendment-benefit-modern-society/ |website=Thesocialtalks |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121202915/https://thesocialtalks.com/opinion/how-would-an-absolute-first-amendment-benefit-modern-society/ |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |date=January 4, 2023 |quote=It is important to note that the First Amendment applies to many expressions, including verbal and non-verbal communication, written communication, sign language, body language, facial expressions, gestures, symbols, and images. This means that the First Amendment protects not just what we say but also how we express ourselves.}}</ref> Free press means the right of individuals to express themselves through publication and dissemination of information, ideas, and opinions without interference, constraint, or prosecution by the government.<ref name="CornellFirstAmendmentOverview" /><ref name="McConnellNov2013" /> In '']'' (1943), the Supreme Court stated that "Freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion are in a preferred position".<ref>{{cite web |title=Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), at 115|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/319/105/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 10, 2022 |date=May 3, 1943}}</ref> The Court added that a community may not suppress, or the state tax, the dissemination of views because they are unpopular, annoying, or distasteful. That would be a complete repudiation of the philosophy of the ], according to the Court.<ref>{{cite web |title=Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), at 116|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/319/105/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 10, 2022 |date=May 3, 1943}}</ref> In '']'' (1969), the Supreme Court stated that the First Amendment protects the right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, and to be generally free from governmental intrusions into one's privacy and control of one's own thoughts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969), at 564-566 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/394/557/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 16, 2022 |date=April 7, 1969}}</ref> | |||
The Supreme Court of the United States characterized the rights of free speech and free press as fundamental personal rights and liberties and noted that the exercise of these rights lies at the foundation of free government by free men.<ref>{{cite web |title=Schneider v. State, 308 U.S. 147 (1939), at 161. |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/308/147/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=February 10, 2021 |date=November 21, 1939}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Vile|first1=John R. |title=Schneider v. State (1939) |url=https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/281/schneider-v-state |encyclopedia=The First Amendment Encyclopedia |publisher=John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies |access-date=February 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125183725/https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/281/schneider-v-state |archive-date=January 25, 2021}}</ref> The Supreme Court stated in '']'' (1940) that the freedom of speech and of the press guaranteed by the ] embraces at the least the liberty to discuss publicly and truthfully all matters of public concern, without previous restraint or fear of subsequent punishment.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U.S. 88 (1940), at 101-102 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/310/88/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=November 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529044715/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/310/88/ |archive-date=May 29, 2023}}</ref> In '']'' (1966), a case involving the Constitutional shield around the speech of elected officials, the Supreme Court declared that the First Amendment central commitment is that, in the words of '']'' (1964), "debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open".<ref name=":2">{{cite web |title=''Bond v. Floyd'', 385 U.S. 116 (1966), at 136. |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/385/116/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=February 9, 2021 |date=December 5, 1966}}</ref> The Court further explained that just as erroneous statements must be protected to give freedom of expression the breathing space it needs to survive, so statements criticizing public policy and the implementation of it must be similarly protected.<ref name=":2"/> The Supreme Court in '']'' (1972) said: | |||
{{quote|But, above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content. ... To permit the continued building of our politics and culture, and to assure self-fulfillment for each individual, our people are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship. The essence of this forbidden censorship is content control. Any restriction on expressive activity because of its content would completely undercut the "profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open."<ref name="19720626MosleyOpinionOfTheCourt">{{cite web|title=Police Dept. of City of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92 (1972), at 95–96|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/408/92/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=July 3, 2020|date=June 26, 1972|archive-date=July 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704062648/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/408/92/|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} | |||
The level of protections with respect to free speech and free press given by the First Amendment is not limitless. As stated in his concurrence in ''Chicago Police Dept. v. Mosley'' (1972), Chief Justice Warren E. Burger said: | |||
{{quote|Numerous holdings of this Court attest to the fact that the First Amendment does not literally mean that we "are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship." This statement is subject to some qualifications, as for example those of '']'', 354 U. S. 476 (1957); '']'', 315 U. S. 568 (1942). See also '']'', 376 U. S. 254 (1964).<ref>{{cite web|title=Police Dept. of City of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92 (1972), at 103|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/408/92/|publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center|access-date=July 3, 2020|date=June 26, 1972|archive-date=July 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704062648/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/408/92/|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} | |||
Attached to the core rights of free speech and free press are several peripheral rights that make these core rights more secure. The peripheral rights encompass not only ], including ] in one's associations, but also, in the words of '']'' (1965), "]", i.e., the right to distribute, the right to receive, and the right to read, as well as freedom of inquiry, ], and freedom to teach.<ref>{{cite web |title=Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), at 482–483 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/381/479/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=July 30, 2020 |date=June 7, 1965}}</ref> The United States Constitution protects, according to the Supreme Court in '']'' (1969), the right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, and to be generally free from governmental intrusions into one's privacy and control of one's thoughts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969), at 564–566.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/394/557/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=December 27, 2020 |date=April 7, 1969}}</ref> As stated by the Court in ''Stanley'': "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds."<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969), at 565.|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/394/557/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=December 27, 2020 |date=April 7, 1969}}</ref> | |||
===Wording of the clause=== | |||
The First Amendment bars Congress from "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". U.S. Supreme Court Justice ] commented about this phraseology in a 1993 journal article: "I emphasize the word 'the' in the term 'the freedom of speech' because the definite article suggests that the draftsmen intended to immunize a previously identified category or subset of speech." Stevens said that, otherwise, the clause might absurdly immunize things like false testimony under oath.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stevens |first=John Paul |title=The Freedom of Speech |journal=] |volume=102 |issue=6 |page=1296 |date=April 1993 |jstor=796971}}</ref> Like Stevens, journalist ] wrote: "The word 'the' can be read to mean what was understood at the time to be included in the concept of free speech."{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=40}} But what was understood at the time is not entirely clear.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=41}} In the late 1790s, the lead author of the speech and press clauses, ], argued against narrowing this freedom to what had existed under English ]: | |||
{{quote|The practice in America must be entitled to much more respect. In every state, probably, in the Union, the press has exerted a freedom in canvassing the merits and measures of public men, of every description, which has not been confined to the strict limits of the common law.<ref name=Dry>{{cite book |last=Dry |first=Murray |title=Civil Peace and the Quest for Truth: The First Amendment Freedoms in Political Philosophy and American Constitutionalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7S02AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |pages=68–70 |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2004}}</ref>}} | |||
Madison wrote this in 1799, when he was in a dispute about the constitutionality of the ], which was legislation enacted in 1798 by President ]' ] to ban ]. Madison believed that legislation to be unconstitutional, and his adversaries in that dispute, such as ], advocated the narrow freedom of speech that had existed in the English common law.<ref name=Dry /> | |||
===Speech critical of the government=== | |||
The Supreme Court declined to rule on the ] of any federal law regarding the Free Speech Clause until the 20th century. For example, the Supreme Court never ruled on the ]; three Supreme Court justices ] presided over sedition trials without indicating any reservations.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=15}} The leading critics of the law, Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, argued for the Acts' unconstitutionality based on the First Amendment and other Constitutional provisions.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=16–17}} Jefferson succeeded Adams as president, in part due to the unpopularity of the latter's sedition prosecutions; he and his party quickly overturned the Acts and pardoned those imprisoned by them.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=20}} In the majority opinion in '']'' (1964),<ref name="ReferenceA">'']'', {{ussc|376|254|1964}}</ref> the Court noted the importance of this public debate as a precedent in First Amendment law and ruled that the Acts had been unconstitutional: "Although the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court, the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history."<ref>''Sullivan'', at 276</ref>{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=53}} | |||
====World War I==== | |||
{{Further<!--Main is ONLY for summary-style overviews of a subarticle; Further is the correct template when "the section expounds a specific aspect of the topic instead of summarizing its article".-->|Clear and present danger}} | |||
] formulated the ] test for free speech cases.]] | |||
During the patriotic fervor of ] and the ], the ] imposed a maximum sentence of twenty years for anyone who caused or attempted to cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States". Specifically, the Espionage Act of 1917 states that if anyone allows any enemies to enter or fly over the United States and obtain information from a place connected with the national defense, they will be punished.<ref>{{cite web|title=Espionage Act, 1917|url=http://recordsofrights.org/records/145/espionage-act|publisher=National Archives|access-date=March 27, 2014}}</ref> Hundreds of prosecutions followed.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=25}} In 1919, the Supreme Court heard four appeals resulting from these cases: '']'', '']'', '']'', and '']''.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=25–27}} | |||
In the first of these cases, ] official ] had been convicted under the Espionage Act for publishing leaflets urging resistance to the draft.{{sfn|Abrams|2006|pp=65–66}} Schenck appealed, arguing that the Espionage Act violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. In ''Schenck v. United States'', the Supreme Court unanimously rejected Schenck's appeal and affirmed his conviction.<ref>''Schenck v. United States'', {{ussc|249|47|1919}}</ref> Debate continued over whether ''Schenck'' went against the right to freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. Justice ], writing for the Court, explained that "the question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a ] that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."<ref>''Schenck'', at 52</ref> One week later, in ''Frohwerk v. United States'', the court again upheld an Espionage Act conviction, this time that of a journalist who had criticized U.S. involvement in foreign wars.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=23}}<ref>{{cite book|first1=Geoffrey R. |last1=Stone|title=Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S7ScI3Ia25sC|year=2004|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-05880-2|page=}}</ref> | |||
In ''Debs v. United States'', the Court elaborated on the "clear and present danger" test established in ''Schenck''.<ref>''Debs v. United States'', {{ussc|249|211|1919}}</ref> On June 16, 1918, ], a political activist, delivered a speech in ], in which he spoke of "most loyal comrades were paying the penalty to the working class—these being ], Baker and ], who had been convicted of aiding and abetting another in failing to register for the draft."<ref>''Debs'', at 213</ref> Following his speech, Debs was charged and convicted under the Espionage Act. In upholding his conviction, the Court reasoned that although he had not spoken any words that posed a "clear and present danger", taken in context, the speech had a "natural tendency and a probable effect to obstruct the recruiting services".<ref>''Debs'', at 216</ref>{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=27}} In ''Abrams v. United States'', four Russian refugees appealed their conviction for throwing leaflets from a building in New York; the leaflets argued against President ]'s intervention in Russia against the ]. The majority upheld their conviction, but Holmes and Justice ] dissented, holding that the government had demonstrated no "clear and present danger" in the four's political advocacy.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=23}} | |||
{{Clear}} | |||
====Extending protections==== | |||
] wrote several dissents in the 1920s upholding free speech claims.]] | |||
The Supreme Court denied a number of Free Speech Clause claims throughout the 1920s, including the appeal of a labor organizer, Benjamin Gitlow, who had been convicted after distributing a manifesto calling for a "revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat".{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=108}} In '']'' (1925), the Court upheld the conviction, but a majority also found that the First Amendment applied to state laws as well as federal laws, via the ] of the ].{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=24}}{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=34–35}} Holmes and Brandeis dissented in several more cases in this decade, however, advancing the argument that the Free Speech Clause protected a far greater range of political speech than the Court had previously acknowledged. In '']'' (1927),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|274|357|1927}}</ref> in which ] organizer ] had been arrested for "]", Brandeis wrote a dissent in which he argued for broader protections for political speech: | |||
{{quote|Those who won our independence{{nbsp}}... believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=36}}}} | |||
In '']'' (1937), the Court heard the case of African American Communist Party organizer ], who had been convicted under the Slave Insurrection Statute for advocating black rule in the southern United States. The Court reversed Herndon's conviction, holding that ] had failed to demonstrate any "clear and present danger" in Herndon's political advocacy.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=26}} The clear and present danger test was again invoked by the majority in the 1940 '']'' decision in which a state antipicketing law was invalidated.<ref name=K60> | |||
*Killian, Johnny H.; Costello, George; Thomas, Kenneth R., ''The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation'', Library of Congress, Government Printing Office, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0160723797}}, pp. 1096, 1100. | |||
*Currie, David P., ''The Constitution in the Supreme Court: The Second Century, 1888–1986, Volume 2'', University of Chicago Press, 1994, p. 269, {{ISBN|9780226131122}}. | |||
*Konvitz, Milton Ridvad, ''Fundamental Liberties of a Free People: Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly'', Transaction Publishers, 2003, p. 304, {{ISBN|9780765809544}}. | |||
*Eastland, Terry, ''Freedom of Expression in the Supreme Court: The Defining Cases'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 16. August 2000, {{ISBN|978-0847697113}}.</ref><ref>The Court adopted the ] test in 1969's '']'', 395 U.S. 444 (1969), which some commentators view as a modified version of the clear and present danger test.</ref><ref>''Thornhill v. Alabama'', 310 U.S. 88 (1940).</ref> The importance of freedom of speech in the context of "clear and present danger" was emphasized in '']'' (1949)<ref>'']'' {{ussc|337|1|1949}}</ref> where the Supreme Court noted that the vitality of civil and political institutions in society depends on free discussion.<ref name=":0">''Terminiello'', at 4</ref> Democracy requires free speech because it is only through free debate and free exchange of ideas that government remains responsive to the will of the people and peaceful change is effected.<ref name=":0"/> Restrictions on free speech are only permissible when the speech at issue is likely to produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance, or unrest.<ref name=":0"/> Justice ] wrote for the Court that "a function of free speech under our system is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger."<ref name=":0"/> | |||
Although the Court referred to the clear and present danger test in a few decisions following ''Thornhill'',<ref>Including '']'', 310 U.S. 296 (1940): "When clear and present danger of riot, disorder, interference with traffic upon the public streets, or other immediate threat to public safety, peace, or order appears, the power of the State to prevent or punish is obvious ... we think that, in the absence of a statute narrowly drawn to define and punish specific conduct as constituting a clear and present danger to a substantial interest of the State, the petitioner's communication, considered in the light of the constitutional guarantees, raised no such clear and present menace to public peace and order as to render him liable to conviction of the common law offense in question."<br /> And '']'', 314 U.S. 252 (1941): "And, very recently we have also suggested that 'clear and present danger' is an appropriate guide in determining the constitutionality of restrictions upon expression ... What finally emerges from the 'clear and present danger' cases is a working principle that the substantive evil must be extremely serious, and the degree of imminence extremely high, before utterances can be punished."</ref> the bad tendency test was not explicitly overruled,<ref name=K60/> and the clear and present danger test was not applied in several subsequent free speech cases involving incitement to violence.<ref>Antieu, Chester James, ''Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States'', Wm. S. Hein Publishing, 1998, p 219, {{ISBN|9781575884431}}. Antieu names '']'', 340 U.S. 315 (1951); '']'' 315 U.S. 568 (1942); and '']'', 335 U.S. 77 (1949).</ref> In 1940, Congress enacted the ], making it illegal to advocate "the propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force and violence".<ref>{{usc|18|2385}}</ref> The statute provided law enforcement a tool to combat Communist leaders. ] was convicted in the ] for attempting to organize a Communist Party.<ref>''Dennis'', at 497</ref> In '']'' (1951),<ref>'']'' {{ussc|341|494|1951}}</ref> the Court upheld the Smith Act.{{efn|Justice ] did not participate because he had ordered the prosecutions when he was ].}}{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=28}} Chief Justice ] relied on Holmes' "clear and present danger" test as adapted by ]: "In each case must ask whether the gravity of the 'evil', discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as necessary to avoid the danger."<ref>''Dennis'', at 510</ref> Clearly, Vinson suggested, clear and present danger did not intimate "that before the Government may act, it must wait until the ''putsch'' is about to be executed, the plans have been laid and the signal is awaited."<ref>''Dennis'', at 509</ref> In a concurring opinion, Justice ] proposed a "balancing test", which soon supplanted the "clear and present danger" test: | |||
{{quote|The demands of free speech in a democratic society as well as the interest in national security are better served by candid and informed weighing of the competing interests, within the confines of the judicial process.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=28}}}} | |||
In '']'' (1957), the Supreme Court limited the Smith Act prosecutions to "advocacy of action" rather than "advocacy in the realm of ideas". Advocacy of abstract doctrine remained protected while speech explicitly inciting the forcible overthrow of the government was punishable under the Smith Act.<ref>'']'', {{ussc|354|298|1957}}</ref>{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=29}} | |||
During the ], the Court's position on public criticism of the government changed drastically. Though the Court upheld a law prohibiting the forgery, mutilation, or destruction of ]s in '']'' (1968),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|391|367|1968}}</ref> fearing that ] would interfere with the "smooth and efficient functioning" of the draft system,<ref>{{usc|50a|462}}</ref><ref>''O'Brien'', at 379</ref> the next year, the court handed down its decision in '']'' (1969),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|395|444|1969}}</ref> expressly overruling ''Whitney v. California''.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=32}} ''Brandenburg'' discarded the "clear and present danger" test introduced in ''Schenck'' and further eroded ''Dennis''.<ref>''Brandenburg'', at 450–1</ref>{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=124}} Now the Supreme Court referred to the right to speak openly of violent action and revolution in broad terms: | |||
{{blockquote| decisions have fashioned the principle that the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not allow a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing ] and is likely to incite or cause such action.<ref>''Brandenburg'', at 447</ref>}} | |||
In '']'' (1971),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|403|15|1971}}</ref> the Court voted reversed the conviction of a man wearing a jacket reading "Fuck the Draft" in the corridors of a ] courthouse. Justice ] wrote in the majority opinion that Cohen's jacket fell in the category of protected political speech despite the use of an expletive: "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric."{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=46}} In '']'' (2017) the Supreme Court noted that "the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment" contains "a bedrock First Amendment principle: Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend."<ref>{{cite web |title=Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. ___ (2017)|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-1293/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521162900/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-1293/ |archive-date=May 21, 2024 |date=June 19, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Coscarelli|first=Joe|date=2017-06-20|title=Why the Slants Took a Fight Over Their Band Name to the Supreme Court|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/arts/music/slants-name-supreme-court-ruling.html|access-date=2021-12-30|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810164814/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/arts/music/slants-name-supreme-court-ruling.html|archive-date=August 10, 2023}}</ref> The Court ruled that the government cannot ban expression merely because it is offensive. In the majority opinion, Justice ] wrote: | |||
{{blockquote|Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express "the thought that we hate." ], 279 U. S. 644, 655 (1929) (Holmes, J., dissenting).<ref name="SCOTUS">{{ussc|name=Matal v. Tam|volume=582|docket=15-1293}}, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017).</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/us/politics/supreme-court-trademarks-redskins.html | title = Justices Strike Down Law Banning Disparaging Trademarks | first= Adam | last = Liptak | date = June 19, 2017 | access-date = June 30, 2019 | work = ]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240410094035/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/us/politics/supreme-court-trademarks-redskins.html|archive-date=April 10, 2024 }}</ref>}} | |||
A ]{{efn|See '']'', {{ussc|volume=430|page=188|pin=193|year=1977}} (holding that in plurality opinions, the narrowest concurring opinion is the controlling opinion). In plurality opinions, a majority of Justices agree upon the proper disposition of the case, but “no single rationale explaining the result enjoys the assent of five justices.”<ref>''Marks'', 430 U.S. at 193.</ref>}} in '']'' (2017) affirmed the principle "that “the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers.” '']'', 394 U. S. 576, 592 (1969)."<ref>{{cite web |title=Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. ___ (2017), Part III-B|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-1293/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521162900/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-1293/ |archive-date=May 21, 2024 |date=June 19, 2017}}</ref> | |||
===Political speech=== | ===Political speech=== | ||
The ability to publicly criticize even the most prominent politicians and leaders without fear of retaliation is part of the First Amendment, because political speech is core First Amendment speech. As the Supreme Court stated with respect to the judicial branch of the government exemplarily that the First Amendment prohibits "any law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ... It must be taken as a command of the broadest scope that explicit language, read in the context of a liberty-loving society, will allow. The assumption that respect for the judiciary can be won by shielding judges from published criticism wrongly appraises the character of American public opinion. For it is a prized American privilege to speak one's mind, although not always with perfect good taste, on all public institutions. And an enforced silence, however limited, solely in the name of preserving the dignity of the bench would probably engender resentment, suspicion, and contempt much more than it would enhance respect."<ref>{{cite web |title=Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252 (1941), at 263 and 270-271. |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/314/252/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=December 2, 2022 |date=December 8, 1941}}</ref> | |||
{{Main|campaign finance reform}} | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|424|1|1976}}, the Supreme Court affirmed the ] of some parts, while declaring other parts unconstitutional, of the ] of 1971 and related laws. These law restricted the monetary contributions that may be made to political campaigns and expenditure by candidates. The Court concluded that limits on campaign contributions "serve the basic governmental interest in safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process without directly impinging upon the rights of individual citizens and candidates to engage in political debate and discussion." At the same time, the Court overturned the expenditure limits, which it found imposed "substantial restraints on the quantity of political speech." | |||
====Anonymous speech==== | |||
Further rules on campaign finance were scrutinized by the Court when it determined '']'', {{ussc|540|93|2003}}. The case centered on the ] of 2002, a law that introduced several new restrictions on campaign financing. The Supreme Court upheld provisions which barred the raising of ] by national parties and the use of soft money by private organizations to finance certain advertisements related to elections. At the same time, the Court struck down the "choice of expenditure" rule, which required that parties could either make coordinated expenditures for all its candidates, or permit candidates to spend independently, but not both, further stating that a "provision place an unconstitutional burden on the parties' right to make unlimited independent expenditures." The Supreme Court also ruled that the provision preventing minors from making political contributions was unconstitutional, relying on the precedent on the ''Tinker'' case. | |||
In '']'' (1960),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|362|60|1960}}</ref> the Court struck down a Los Angeles city ordinance that made it a crime to distribute anonymous pamphlets. Justice Hugo Black wrote in the majority opinion: "There can be no doubt that such an identification requirement would tend to restrict freedom to distribute information and thereby freedom of expression.{{nbsp}}... Anonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-90119545|title=Cybersmear: telecommunication's 200-year-old riddle|last=Chiger |first=Stephen J.|date=June 1, 2002|work=Communications and the Law|via= |url-access=|access-date=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> In '']'' (1995),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|514|334|1995}}</ref> the Court struck down an ] statute that made it a crime to distribute anonymous campaign literature.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-913993.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509101408/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-913993.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Court Hears Case on Unsigned Leaflets|last=Biskupic|first=Joan|author-link=Joan Biskupic|date=October 13, 1994|newspaper=]|publisher=|access-date=April 11, 2013}}</ref> However, in ''Meese v. Keene'' (1987),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|481|465|1987}}</ref> the Court upheld the ] of 1938, under which several Canadian films were defined as "political propaganda", requiring their sponsors to be identified.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1319383.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509081314/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1319383.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Court Upholds Government Labeling Certain Foreign Films 'Propaganda'|last=Kamen|first=Al|date=April 29, 1987|newspaper=The Washington Post|publisher=|access-date=April 11, 2013}}</ref> | |||
In '']'', (2007), the Supreme Court sustained an "as applied" challenge to provisions of the 2002 law dealing with advertising shortly before a primary, caucus, or an election. | |||
====Campaign finance==== | |||
In '']'', (2008), the Supreme Court declared the "Millionaire's Amendment" provisions of the BCRA to be unconstitutional. The Court held that easing BCRA restrictions for an opponent of a self-financing candidate spending at least $350,000 of his own money violated the freedom of speech of the self-financing candidate. | |||
{{See also|Campaign finance reform in the United States}} | |||
In '']'', , the Court ruled that federal restrictions on corporate electoral advocacy under the BCRA were unconstitutional for violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Court overruled '']'', {{ussc|494|652|1990}}, which had previously held that a law that prohibited corporations from using treasury money to support or oppose candidates in elections did not violate the First or ] Amendments. The Court also overruled the part of ''McConnell'' that upheld such restrictions under the BCRA.<ref>See Part III of the Opinion of the Court in ''Citizens United''</ref> | |||
], plaintiff in '']'']] | |||
In '']'' (1976),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|424|1|1976}}</ref> the Supreme Court reviewed the ] of 1971 and related laws, which restricted the monetary contributions that may be made to political campaigns and expenditure by candidates. The Court affirmed the constitutionality of limits on campaign contributions, saying they "serve the basic governmental interest in safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process without directly impinging upon the rights of individual citizens and candidates to engage in political debate and discussion."<ref>''Buckley'', at 58</ref> However, the Court overturned the spending limits, which it found imposed "substantial restraints on the quantity of political speech".<ref>''Buckley'', at 39</ref>{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=177–78}} | |||
====Free Speech Zones==== | |||
The court again scrutinized campaign finance regulation in '']'' (2003).<ref>'']'', {{ussc|540|93|2003}}</ref> The case centered on the ] of 2002 (BCRA), a federal law that imposed new restrictions on campaign financing. The Supreme Court upheld provisions which barred the raising of ] by national parties and the use of soft money by private organizations to fund certain advertisements related to elections. However, the Court struck down the "choice of expenditure" rule, which required that parties could either make coordinated expenditures for all its candidates, or permit candidates to spend independently, but not both, which the Court agreed "placed an unconstitutional burden on the parties' right to make unlimited independent expenditures".<ref>''McConnell'', at 213</ref> The Court also ruled that the provision preventing minors from making political contributions was unconstitutional, relying on '']''. | |||
]" at the ].]] | |||
]s are areas set aside in public places for ] to exercise their right of ] as an exercise of what is commonly called "TPM" or "time, place, manner" regulation of speech. Free speech zones are set up by the ] who scout locations near which the president is to pass or speak. Officials may target those displaying signs and escort them to the free speech zones before and during the event. Protesters who refuse to go to free speech zones could be arrested and charged with ]ing, ] and ]. In 2003, a seldom-used federal law was brought up that says that "willfully and knowingly to enter or remain in any posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting" is a crime.<ref>{{usc|18|1752}}</ref><ref>'']'', 416 F.3d 301 (2005)</ref> | |||
In '']'' (2007),<ref>{{ussc|name=Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.|volume=551|page=449|year=2007}}</ref> the Court sustained an ] to BCRA, holding that issue ads may not be banned from the months preceding a primary or general election. In '']'' (2008),<ref>{{ussc|name=Davis v. FEC|volume=554|page=724|year=2008}}</ref> the Supreme Court declared the "Millionaire's Amendment" provisions of the BCRA to be unconstitutional. The Court held that easing BCRA restrictions for an opponent of a self-financing candidate spending at least $350,000 of his or her own money violated the freedom of speech of the self-financing candidate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-204614062|title='Wholly foreign to the First Amendment': the demise of campaign finance's equalizing rationale in Davis v. Federal Election Commission|last=Samuel|first=Gedge|date=June 22, 2009|publisher=Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy|via=|url-access=|access-date=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> | |||
===Involuntary health care=== | |||
A small minority{{Who|date=January 2010}} has questioned whether ] laws, when the ] of a ] leading, in whole or in part, to the commitment, was made to some degree on the basis of the speech or writings of the committed individual, violates the right of freedom of speech of such individuals. | |||
In '']'' (2010),<ref>{{ussc|name=Citizens United v. FEC|volume=558|page=310|year=2010}}.</ref> the Court ruled that the BCRA's federal restrictions on electoral advocacy by corporations or ] were unconstitutional for violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Court overruled '']'' (1990),<ref>{{ussc|name=Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce|494|652|1990}}</ref> which had upheld a state law that prohibited corporations from using treasury funds to support or oppose candidates in elections did not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments. The Court also overruled the portion of ''McConnell'' that upheld such restrictions under the BCRA.<ref>See Part III of the Opinion of the Court in ''Citizens United''</ref> In other words, the ruling was considered to hold that "political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment".<ref>, ], n.d. Retrieved November 1, 2012.</ref> | |||
The First Amendment implications of involuntary administration of psychotropic medication have also been questioned. In 1979, in ''Rogers v. Orkin'', Judge Joseph L. Tauro for the ] said that "whatever powers the Constitution has granted our government, involuntary mind control is not one of them."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/517/9/|title=Deaths, A Consequence of Forced Psychotropic Drugs|last=Sharav|first=Vera Hassner|date=February 19, 2009|publisher=Alliance for Human Research Protection|accessdate=11 January 2010}}</ref> In '']'', 462 F. Supp. 1131 (D.N.J. 1978), the ] held that an involuntarily committed patient has the right to refuse medication. | |||
In '']'' (2014),<ref>{{ussc|name=McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission|volume=572|page=185|year=2014}}</ref> the Court ruled that federal aggregate limits on how much a person can donate to ]s, political parties, and ]s, combined respectively in a two-year period known as an "election cycle", violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.<ref>{{cite web|last=Howe|first=Amy|title=Divided Court strikes down campaign contribution caps: In Plain English|url=http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/04/divided-court-strikes-down-campaign-contribution-caps-in-plain-english/|publisher=]|access-date=April 11, 2014|date=April 2, 2014}}</ref> | |||
In the ] of '']'', {{ussc|422|563|1975}}, the ] ruled that a patient cannot be involuntarily committed without ]. The mental health bar, spearheaded by the ] (ACLU), has interpreted this decision to mean it is unconstitutional to commit a person for treatment who is not imminently a danger to himself or others and is capable to a minimal degree of surviving on his own.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} This interpretation has hampered efforts to implement changes in commitment laws throughout the United States, as most states insist the person meet the "imminent danger" standard, accepting the ACLU's interpretation of ''Donaldson''.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} | |||
====Flag desecration==== | |||
The divisive issue of ] as a form of protest first came before the Supreme Court in '']'' (1969).<ref>{{ussc|name=Street v. New York|394|576|1969}}.</ref> In response to hearing an erroneous report of the murder of civil rights activist ], Sidney Street burned a ]. Street was arrested and charged with a New York state law making it a crime "publicly mutilate, deface, defile, or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt upon either by words or act ".<ref>''Street'', 394 U.S. at 578 (quoting the ], §1425, subd. 16).</ref> The Court, relying on '']'' (1931),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|name=Stromberg v. California|283|359|1931}}.</ref> found that because the provision of the New York law criminalizing "words" against the flag was unconstitutional, and the trial did not sufficiently demonstrate he had been convicted solely under the provisions not yet deemed unconstitutional, the conviction was unconstitutional. The Court, however, "resist the pulls to decide the constitutional issues involved in this case on a broader basis" and left the constitutionality of flag-burning unaddressed.<ref>''Street'', 394 U.S. at 581.</ref>{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=43}} | |||
The ambiguity with regard to flag-burning statutes was eliminated in '']'' (1989).<ref>'']'', {{ussc|491|397|1989}}</ref> In that case, ] burned an American flag at a demonstration during the ] in ], Texas. Charged with violating a Texas law prohibiting the vandalizing of venerated objects, Johnson was convicted, sentenced to one year in prison, and fined $2,000. The Supreme Court reversed his conviction. Justice ] wrote in the decision that "if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable."<ref>''Johnson'', at 414</ref> Congress then passed a federal law barring flag burning, but the Supreme Court struck it down as well in '']'' (1990).<ref>'']'', {{ussc|496|310|1990}}</ref>{{sfn|Jasper|1999|pp=43–44}} A ] to the U.S. Constitution has been proposed repeatedly in Congress since 1989, and in 2006 failed to pass the Senate by a single vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/washington/27cnd-flag.html?_r=1& |title=Amendment on Flag Burning Fails by One Vote in the Senate |last1=Hulse |first1=Carl |last2=Holusha |first2=John |date=June 27, 2006 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 4, 2013 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331110217/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/washington/27cnd-flag.html?_r=1& |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
====Falsifying military awards==== | |||
While the unauthorized wear or sale of the ] has been a punishable offense under federal law since the early twentieth century,<ref>See , citing 42 Stat. 1286. Retrieved on June 30, 2012.</ref><ref> (p. 318 of the PDF version). Retrieved on June 30, 2012.</ref> the ] criminalized the act of not only wearing, but also verbally claiming entitlement to ] a person did not in fact earn.<ref>{{cite news|first=John|last=Crewdson|author-link=John M. Crewdson|date=May 27, 2008|title=Fake claims of war heroics a federal offense|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-valormay28,0,4768252.story|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> In '']'' (2012), the Supreme Court struck down the Act, ruling that the First Amendment bars the government from punishing people for making false claims regarding military service or honors where the false claim was not "made to effect a fraud or secure moneys or other valuable considerations". The Supreme Court could not agree on a single rationale for its decision.<ref>{{ussc|name=United States v. Alvarez|link=United States v. Alvarez|volume=567|page=709|pin=|year=2012}}. {{usgovpd}}</ref> | |||
===Compelled speech=== | |||
{{Main|Compelled speech}} | |||
The Supreme Court has determined that the First Amendment also protects citizens from being compelled by the government to say or to pay for certain speech. | |||
In '']'' (1943), the Court ruled that school children could not be punished for refusing either to say the ] or salute the ]. The Court also overruled '']'' (1940), which had upheld such punishments of school children.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/West-Virginia-State-Board-of-Education-v-Barnette|title=West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette|author=<!--just omit "staff": The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica-->|work=]|date=June 7, 2020|access-date=June 21, 2020}}</ref> | |||
In '']'' (2018), the Court ruled that a California law requiring ]s to post notices informing patients they can obtain free or low-cost abortions and include the number of the state agency that can connect the women with abortion providers violated those centers' right to free speech.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scotusblog.com/2018/06/opinion-analysis-divided-court-rules-for-anti-abortion-pregnancy-centers-in-challenge-to-california-law/#more-272072|title=Opinion analysis: Divided court rules for anti-abortion pregnancy centers in challenge to California law|first=Amy |last=Howe|work=]|date=June 26, 2018|access-date=June 27, 2018}}</ref> | |||
In '']'' (2018), the Court ruled that requiring a ] employee to pay dues to a union of which he is not a member violated the First Amendment. According to the Court, "the First Amendment does not permit the government to compel a person to pay for another party's speech just because the government thinks that the speech furthers the interests of the person who does not want to pay." The Court also overruled '']'' (1977), which had upheld legally obligating public sector employees to pay such dues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scotusblog.com/2018/06/opinion-analysis-court-strikes-down-public-sector-union-fees/|title=Opinion analysis: Court strikes down public-sector union fees|first=Amy |last=Howe|publisher=]|date=June 27, 2018|access-date=June 27, 2018}}</ref> | |||
===Commercial speech=== | |||
{{Main|Commercial speech}} | |||
Commercial speech is speech done on behalf of a company or individual for the purpose of making a profit. Unlike political speech, the Supreme Court does not afford commercial speech full protection under the First Amendment. To effectively distinguish commercial speech from other types of speech for purposes of litigation, the Court uses a list of four indicia:<ref>'']'', {{ussc|463|60|1983}}</ref> | |||
# The contents do "no more than propose a commercial transaction". | |||
# The contents may be characterized as advertisements. | |||
# The contents reference a specific product. | |||
# The disseminator is economically motivated to distribute the speech. | |||
Alone, each indicium does not compel the conclusion that an instance of speech is commercial; however, "he combination of ''all'' these characteristics{{nbsp}}... provides strong support for{{nbsp}}... the conclusion that the properly characterized as commercial speech."<ref>''Bolger'', 463 U.S. at 67.</ref> | |||
In '']'' (1942),<ref>{{ussc|name=Valentine v. Chrestensen|316|52|1942}}</ref> the Court upheld a New York City ordinance forbidding the "distribution in the streets of commercial and business advertising matter", ruling the First Amendment protection of free speech did not include commercial speech.<ref>''Valentine'', 316 U.S. at 53–54.</ref> | |||
In '']'' (1976),<ref>{{ussc|name=Virginia State Pharmacy Board v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council|425|748|1976}}. {{usgovpd}}</ref> the Court overturned ''Valentine'' and ruled that commercial speech was entitled to First Amendment protection: | |||
{{blockquote|What is at issue is whether a State may completely suppress the dissemination of concededly truthful information about entirely lawful activity, fearful of that information's effect upon its disseminators and its recipients.{{nbsp}}... e conclude that the answer to this one is in the negative.<ref>''Virginia State Pharmacy Board'', 425 U.S. at 773.</ref>}} | |||
In ''Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association'' (1978),<ref>{{ussc|name=Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association|436|447|1978}}. {{usgovpd}}</ref> the Court ruled that commercial speech was not protected by the First Amendment as much as other types of speech: | |||
{{blockquote|We have not discarded the 'common-sense' distinction between speech proposing a commercial transaction, which occurs in an area traditionally subject to government regulation, and other varieties of speech. To require a parity of constitutional protection for commercial and noncommercial speech alike could invite a dilution, simply by a leveling process, of the force of the Amendment's guarantee with respect to the latter kind of speech.<ref>''Ohralik'', 436 U.S. at 455.</ref>}} | |||
In '']'' (1980),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|447|557|1980}}</ref> the Court clarified what analysis was required before the government could justify regulating commercial speech: | |||
# Is the expression protected by the First Amendment? Lawful? Misleading? Fraud? | |||
# Is the asserted government interest substantial? | |||
# Does the regulation directly advance the governmental interest asserted? | |||
# Is the regulation more extensive than is necessary to serve that interest? | |||
Six years later, the U.S. Supreme Court, applying the ''Central Hudson'' standards in '']'' (1986),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|478|328|1986}}</ref> affirmed the ]'s conclusion that ]'s ''Games of Chance Act of 1948'', including the regulations thereunder, was not facially unconstitutional. The lax interpretation of ''Central Hudson'' adopted by ''Posadas'' was soon restricted under '']'' (1996),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|517|484|1996}}</ref> when the Court invalidated a ] law prohibiting the publication of liquor prices. | |||
===School speech=== | |||
{{Main|Freedom of speech in schools in the United States}} | |||
In ''Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District'' (1969),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|393|503|1969}}</ref> the Supreme Court extended free speech rights to students in school. The case involved several students who were punished for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. The Court ruled that the school could not restrict symbolic speech that did not "materially and substantially" interrupt school activities.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=61}} Justice ] wrote: | |||
{{blockquote|First Amendment rights, applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment, are available to teachers and students. It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.{{nbsp}}... chools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students{{nbsp}}... are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect their obligations to the State.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0393_0503_ZO.html|title=''Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District''|access-date=April 11, 2013}}</ref>}} | |||
In '']'' (1972), the Court ruled that ] refusal to recognize a campus chapter of ] was unconstitutional, reaffirming ''Tinker''.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=62}} | |||
However, since 1969 the Court has also placed several limitations on ''Tinker''. In '']'' (1986),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|478|675|1986}}</ref> the Court ruled that a student could be punished for his sexual-innuendo-laced speech before a school assembly and, in '']'' (1988),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|484|260|1988}}</ref> the Court found that schools need not tolerate student speech that is inconsistent with their basic educational mission.{{sfn|Jasper|1999|pp=62–63}} In '']'' (2007),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|551|393|2007}}</ref> the Court ruled that schools could restrict student speech at school-sponsored events, even events away from school grounds, if students promote "illegal drug use".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1753810351.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509090535/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1753810351.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Uncertain Rights: Student Speech and Conflicting Interpretations of Morse v. Frederick|last1=Kozlowski |first1=Dan V.|last2=Bullard |first2=Melissa E.|last3=Deets |first3=Kristen|date=April 1, 2009|work=Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly|publisher=|access-date=April 11, 2013}}</ref> | |||
In 2014, the ] released the "]", a free speech policy statement designed to combat censorship on campus. This statement was later adopted by a number of top-ranked universities including ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefire.org/get-involved/student-network/take-action/adopting-the-chicago-statement/|title=Adopting the Chicago Statement|website=FIRE|language=en-US|access-date=August 26, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomlindsay/2018/02/28/35-universities-adopt-the-chicago-statement-on-free-speech-1590-to-go/|title=35 Universities Adopt 'The Chicago Statement' On Free Speech—1,606 To Go|last=Lindsay|first=Tom|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=August 26, 2019}}</ref> | |||
===Internet access=== | |||
In '']'' (2017), the Supreme Court held that a ] law prohibiting registered ] from accessing various websites impermissibly restricted lawful speech in violation of the First Amendment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/19/15830286/supreme-court-north-carolina-sex-offenders-social-media|title=Supreme Court strikes down North Carolina law banning sex offenders from social media|date=June 19, 2017}}</ref> The Court held that "a fundamental principle of the First Amendment is that all persons have access to places where they can speak and listen, and then, after reflection, speak and listen once more."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-1194|title=Packingham v. North Carolina |website= www.oyez.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-1194_08l1.pdf|title=Packingham v. North Carolina |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=] |access-date=September 25, 2017}}</ref> | |||
===Obscenity=== | |||
{{Further<!--Main is ONLY for summary-style overviews of a subarticle; Further is the correct template when "the section expounds a specific aspect of the topic instead of summarizing its article".-->|United States obscenity law}} | |||
] wrote that while he could not precisely define pornography, he " it when it".]] | |||
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the First Amendment's protection of free speech does not apply to obscene speech. Therefore, both the federal government and the states have tried to prohibit or otherwise restrict obscene speech, in particular the form that is {{as of|2019|alt=now}} called pornography. {{as of|2019}}, pornography, except for child pornography, is in practice free of governmental restrictions in the United States, though pornography about "extreme" sexual practices is occasionally prosecuted. The change in the twentieth century, from total prohibition in 1900 to near-total tolerance in 2000, reflects a series of court cases involving the definition of obscenity. The U.S. Supreme Court has found that most pornography is not obscene, a result of changing definitions of both obscenity and pornography.<ref name=EB /> The legal tolerance also reflects changed social attitudes: one reason there are so few prosecutions for pornography is that ].<ref>Jury nullification: | |||
* {{cite web|url=https://reason.com/2018/11/06/judge-advocates-jury-nullification/|title=Federal Judge Advocates Jury Nullification After Being Shocked by Overzealous Child Pornography Prosecution|date=June 11, 2016|publisher=reason.com}} | |||
* {{cite web|url=https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2018/11/mandatory-minimum-drives-us-district-judge-to-countenance-arguments-for-jury-nullification-in-federa.html|title=Mandatory minimum drives US District Judge to countenance arguments for jury nullification in federal child porn case|date=November 6, 2018|publisher=entencing.typepad.com}} | |||
* {{cite web|url=https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2019/05/17/nullifying-nullification-will-the-second-circuit-prohibit-a-defendants-jury-nullification-defense/?slreturn=20190507043909|title=Nullifying Nullification: Will the Second Circuit Prohibit a Defendant's Jury Nullification Defense?|date=May 17, 2019|publisher=ww.law.com}} | |||
* {{cite web|url=https://www.cato.org/blog/defending-courts-discretion-allow-arguments-conscientious-acquittal|title=Defending a Court's Discretion To Allow Arguments for Conscientious Acquittal|date=December 20, 2018|publisher=www.cato.org}} | |||
</ref> | |||
In '']'' (1896), the Supreme Court adopted the same obscenity standard as had been articulated in a famous British case, ''Regina v. Hicklin'' (1868).<ref>''Regina v. Hicklin'', L. R. 3 Q. B. 360</ref> The ] defined material as obscene if it tended "to deprave or corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall".<ref>''Rosen'', at 43</ref> In the early twentieth century, literary works including '']'' (], 1925) and '']'' (], 1928) were banned for obscenity. In the ] case '']'' (1933), Judge John M. Woolsey established a new standard to evaluate ]'s novel '']'' (1922), stating that works must be considered in their entirety, rather than declared obscene on the basis of an individual part of the work.<ref name=obscenity>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obscenity|title=Obscenity|date=August 19, 2010|publisher=Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School|access-date=April 10, 2013|archive-date=April 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402163508/http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obscenity|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
The Supreme Court ruled in '']'' (1957)<ref>'']'', {{ussc|354|476|1957}}</ref> that the First Amendment did not protect obscenity.<ref name=obscenity /> It also ruled that the ''Hicklin'' test was inappropriate; instead, the ''Roth'' test for obscenity was "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest".<ref>''Roth'', at 489</ref> This definition proved hard to apply, however, and in the following decade, members of the Court often reviewed films individually in a court building screening room to determine if they should be considered obscene.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=135–36}} Justice ], in '']'' (1964),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|378|184|1964}}</ref> famously said that, although he could not precisely define pornography, "]".<ref>''Jacobellis'', at 197</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Peter|last=Lattman|title=The Origins of Justice Stewart's 'I Know It When I See It'|date=September 27, 2007|newspaper=]|publisher=LawBlog at The Wall Street Journal Online|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/27/the-origins-of-justice-stewarts-i-know-it-when-i-see-it/|access-date=December 31, 2014}}</ref> | |||
The ''Roth'' test was expanded when the Court decided '']'' (1973).<ref>'']'', {{ussc|413|15|1973}}</ref> Under the ], a work is obscene if: | |||
{{blockquote|(a){{nbsp}} 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find the work, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest{{nbsp}}... (b){{nbsp}}... the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (c){{nbsp}}... the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.<ref>''Miller'', at 39</ref>}} | |||
"Community" standards—not national standards—are applied to determine whether allegedly obscene material appeals to the prurient interest and is patently offensive.<ref name=obscenity /> By contrast, the question whether a work lacks serious value depends upon "whether a reasonable person would find such value in the material, taken as a whole."<ref>''Pope v. Illinois'', 481 U.S. 497, 500-501 (1987).</ref> | |||
] is not subject to the ''Miller'' test, as the Supreme Court decided in '']'' (1982) and '']'' (1990),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|458|747|1982}}</ref><ref>'']'', {{ussc|495|103|1990}}</ref> ruling that the government's interest in protecting children from abuse was paramount.<ref>''Ferber'', at 761</ref>{{sfn|Jasper|1999|p=51}} | |||
Personal possession of obscene material in the home may not be prohibited by law. In '']'' (1969),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|394|557|1969}}</ref> the Court ruled that "f the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch."<ref name=":1"/> However, it is constitutionally permissible for the government to prevent the mailing or sale of obscene items, though they may be viewed only in private. '']'' (2002)<ref>'']'', {{ussc|535|234|2002}}</ref> further upheld these rights by invalidating the ], holding that, because the act "rohibit child pornography that does not depict an actual child" (]) it was overly broad and unconstitutional under the First Amendment<ref>''Free Speech Coalition'', at 240</ref> and: | |||
{{blockquote|First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.<ref>''Free Speech Coalition'', at 253</ref>}} | |||
In '']'' (2008),<ref>'']'', 553 U.S. 285 (2008)</ref> the Court upheld the ], ruling that prohibiting offers to provide and requests to obtain child pornography did not violate the First Amendment, even if a person charged under the Act did not possess child pornography.<ref>{{cite web |title=United States v. Williams (No. 06-694) |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/06-694.ZO.html |publisher=Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School at Cornell University |access-date=January 16, 2022 |date=May 19, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-202024472|title=Protecting children speech that crosses the line|first=Craig|last=King|date=June 1, 2009|work=The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin|via=|url-access=|access-date=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> | |||
===Memoirs of convicted criminals=== | ===Memoirs of convicted criminals=== | ||
In some states, there are ]s prohibiting convicted ]s from publishing ]s for profit. These laws were a response to offers to ] to write memoirs about the murders he committed. The Supreme Court struck down a law of this type in New York as a violation of the First Amendment in the case '']'', {{ussc|502|105|1991}}. That statute did not outlaw publication of a memoir by a convicted criminal. Instead, it provided that all profits from the book were to be put in escrow for a time. The interest from the ] account was used to fund the New York State Crime Victims Board — an organization that pays the medical and related bills of victims of crime. Similar laws in other states remain unchallenged. | |||
In some states, there are ]s prohibiting convicted criminals from publishing memoirs for profit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-96711249.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924182836/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-96711249.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2015|title=Interview: Julie Hilden discusses laws and ethics surrounding the intellectual property rights of prisoners|first=Madeleine |last=Brand| author-link=Madeleine Brand|date=July 22, 2004|publisher=NPR |access-date=April 28, 2013}}</ref> These laws were a response to offers to ] to write memoirs about the murders he committed. The Supreme Court struck down a law of this type in New York as a violation of the First Amendment in the case '']'' (1991).<ref>'']'', {{ussc|502|105|1991}}</ref> That statute did not prohibit publication of a memoir by a convicted criminal. Instead, it provided that all profits from the book were to be put in escrow for a time. The interest from the ] account was used to fund the New York State Crime Victims Board—an organization that pays the medical and related bills of victims of crime. Similar laws in other states remain unchallenged.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000057.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509105616/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000057.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Simon & Schuster v. Members of the New York State Crime Victims Board 1991|year=2001|work=Supreme Court Drama: Cases That Changed America|publisher=|access-date=April 10, 2013}}</ref> | |||
==Freedom of the press== | |||
{{Main|Freedom of the press in the United States}} | |||
===Defamation=== | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|303|444|1938}}, Chief Justice Hughes defined the press as, "every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion." Freedom of the press, like freedom of speech, is subject to restrictions on bases such as defamation law. | |||
{{Further<!--Main is ONLY for summary-style overviews of a subarticle; Further is the correct template when "the section expounds a specific aspect of the topic instead of summarizing its article".-->|United States defamation law}} | |||
]'', requiring the demonstration of "actual malice" in libel suits against public figures.]] | |||
] for ] speech or publications traces its origins to ]. For the first two hundred years of American jurisprudence, the basic substance of defamation law continued to resemble that existing in England at the time of the Revolution. An 1898 American legal textbook on defamation provides definitions of libel and slander nearly identical to those given by ] and ]. An action of slander required the following:{{sfn|Newell|1898|pp=37–41}} | |||
# Actionable words, such as those imputing the injured party: is guilty of some offense, suffers from a contagious disease or psychological disorder, is unfit for public office because of moral failings or an inability to discharge his or her duties, or lacks integrity in profession, trade or business; | |||
# That the charge must be false; | |||
# That the charge must be articulated to a third person, verbally or in writing; | |||
# That the words are not subject to legal protection, such as those uttered in Congress; and | |||
# That the charge must be motivated by malice. | |||
An action of libel required the same five general points as slander, except that it specifically involved the publication of defamatory statements.{{sfn|Newell|1898|pp=33–37}} For certain criminal charges of libel, such as seditious libel, the truth or falsity of the statements was immaterial, as such laws were intended to maintain public support of the government and true statements could damage this support even more than false ones.{{sfn|Nelson|1994|p=93}} Instead, libel placed specific emphasis on the result of the publication. Libelous publications tended to "degrade and injure another person" or "bring him into contempt, hatred or ridicule".{{sfn|Newell|1898|pp=33–37}} | |||
Concerns that defamation under common law might be incompatible with the new republican form of government caused early American courts to struggle between ]'s argument that the punishment of "dangerous or offensive writings{{nbsp}}... necessary for the preservation of peace and good order, of government and religion, the only solid foundations of civil liberty" and the argument that the need for a free press guaranteed by the Constitution outweighed the fear of what might be written.{{sfn|Nelson|1994|p=93}} Consequently, very few changes were made in the first two centuries after the ratification of the First Amendment. | |||
The Supreme Court's ruling in ''New York Times Co. v. Sullivan'' (1964)<ref name="ReferenceA"/> fundamentally changed American defamation law. The case redefined the type of "malice" needed to sustain a libel case. Common law malice consisted of "ill-will" or "wickedness". Now, a public officials seeking to sustain a civil action against a tortfeasor needed to prove by "clear and convincing evidence" that there was ]. The case involved an advertisement published in '']'' indicating that officials in ] had acted violently in suppressing the protests of African-Americans during the ]. The Montgomery Police Commissioner, L. B. Sullivan, sued the ''Times'' for libel, saying the advertisement damaged his reputation. The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the $500,000 judgment against the ''Times''. Justice Brennan suggested that public officials may sue for libel only if the statements in question were published with "actual malice"—"knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not".<ref>''Sullivan'' at 280</ref>{{sfn|Jasper|1999|pp=9–10}} In sum, the court held that "the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials except when statements are made with actual malice (with knowledge that they are false or in reckless disregard of their truth or falsity)."<ref>{{cite web|title=New York Times v. Sullivan|url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1963/1963_39|work=The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law|access-date=March 11, 2014}}</ref> | |||
While actual malice standard applies to public officials and public figures,<ref>'']'', {{West|SUPP|596||363|S.D. N.Y.|1984|}}</ref> in '']'' (1988),<ref>''Philadelphia Newspapers v. Hepps'', {{ussc|475|767|1988}}</ref> the Court found that, with regard to private individuals, the First Amendment does "not necessarily force any change in at least some features of the common-law landscape".<ref>''Hepps'' at 775</ref> In '']'' (1985)<ref>'']'' {{ussc|472|749|1985}}</ref> the Court ruled that "actual malice" need not be shown in cases involving private individuals, holding that "n light of the reduced constitutional value of speech involving no matters of public concern{{nbsp}}... the state interest adequately supports awards of presumed and punitive damages—even absent a showing of 'actual malice'."<ref>''Greenmoss'' at 761</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425000783.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509094715/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425000783.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 9, 2013 |title=Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. 472 U.S. 749 (1985) |date=January 1, 2000 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution |publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> In '']'' (1974), the Court ruled that a private individual had to prove malice only to be awarded punitive damages, not actual damages.<ref>'']'' {{ussc|418|323|1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001077.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509080602/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001077.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.|first=Leonard W. |last=Levy|date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> In '']'' (1988),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|485|46|1988}}</ref> the Court extended the "actual malice" standard to ] in a ruling which protected parody, in this case a fake advertisement in '']'' suggesting that evangelist ]'s first sexual experience had been with his mother in an outhouse. Since Falwell was a public figure, the Court ruled that "importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern" was the paramount concern, and reversed the judgement Falwell had won against ''Hustler'' for emotional distress.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000024.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509092835/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000024.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Hustler Magazine v. Falwell 1988|date=January 1, 2001|work=Supreme Court Drama: Cases that Changed America|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> | |||
In '']'' (1990),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|497|1|1990}}</ref> the Court ruled that the First Amendment offers no wholesale exception to defamation law for statements labeled "opinion", but instead that a statement must be provably false (falsifiable) before it can be the subject of a libel suit.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001663.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509082207/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001663.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. 497 U.S. 1 (1990)|date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> Nonetheless, it has been argued that ''Milkovich'' and other cases effectively provide for an ].<ref>Esward M. Sussman, , Duke Law Journal, pp. 415–48</ref> | |||
===Private action=== | |||
Despite the common misconception that the First Amendment prohibits anyone from limiting free speech,<ref name="McGregor">{{cite news|last1=McGregor|first1=Jena|title=The Google memo is a reminder that we generally don't have free speech at work|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/08/08/the-google-memo-is-a-reminder-that-we-generally-dont-have-free-speech-at-work/|access-date=March 1, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 8, 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125155407/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/08/08/the-google-memo-is-a-reminder-that-we-generally-dont-have-free-speech-at-work/|archive-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref> the text of the amendment prohibits only the federal government, the states and local governments from doing so.<ref name="Willingham">{{cite news|last1=Willingham|first1=AJ|title=The First Amendment doesn't guarantee you the rights you think it does|url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/27/politics/first-amendment-explainer-trnd/index.html|access-date=March 1, 2019|work=CNN|date=September 6, 2018}}</ref> | |||
State constitutions provide free speech protections similar to those of the U.S. Constitution. In a few states, such as California, a state constitution has been interpreted as providing more comprehensive protections than the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has permitted states to extend such enhanced protections, most notably in '']''.<ref>'']'', {{ussc|447|74|1980}}</ref> In that case, the Court unanimously ruled that while the First Amendment may allow private property owners to prohibit trespass by political speakers and petition-gatherers, California was permitted to restrict property owners whose property is equivalent to a traditional public forum (often shopping malls and grocery stores) from enforcing their private property rights to exclude such individuals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-196305310|title=Returning to the PruneYard: the unconstitutionality of state-sanctioned trespass in the name of speech|author1-link=Gregory Sisk|first=Gregory C. |last=Sisk|date=January 1, 2009|work=Harvard Journal of Law and Public Property|via=|url-access=|access-date=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> However, the Court did maintain that shopping centers could impose "reasonable restrictions on expressive activity".<ref>''Pruneyard'', at 94</ref> Subsequently, ], ], Massachusetts and Puerto Rico courts have adopted the doctrine;<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mulligan|first=Josh|year=2004|title=Finding A Forum in the Simulated City: Mega Malls, Gated Towns, and the Promise of ''Pruneyard''|journal=Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy|volume=13|pages=533, 557|issn=1069-0565}}</ref><ref>''Empresas Puertorriqueñas de Desarrollo, Inc. v. Hermandad Independiente de Empleados Telefónicos'', {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215161008/http://www.ramajudicial.pr/Supremo2/2000tspr71.htm |date=December 15, 2020 }}</ref> California's courts have repeatedly reaffirmed it.<ref>''Golden Gateway Ctr. v. Golden Gateway Tenants Ass'n'', (2001); ''Costco Companies, Inc. v. Gallant'', (2002); ''Fashion Valley Mall, LLC, v. National Labor Relations Board'', (2007)</ref> | |||
===Freedom of the press=== | |||
{{Further<!--Main is ONLY for summary-style overviews of a subarticle; Further is the correct template when "the section expounds a specific aspect of the topic instead of summarizing its article".-->|Freedom of the press in the United States}} | |||
The free speech and free press clauses have been interpreted as providing the same protection to speakers as to writers, except for radio and television wireless broadcasting which have, for historical reasons, been given less constitutional protections.<ref>Volokh, Eugene. ''The Heritage Guide to the Constitution'', (Forte and Spalding, eds., The Heritage Foundation 2014).</ref> The Free Press Clause protects the right of individuals to express themselves through publication and dissemination of information, ideas and opinions without interference, constraint or prosecution by the government.<ref name="CornellFirstAmendmentOverview" /><ref name="McConnellNov2013">{{cite journal|last=McConnell|first=Michael W.|title=Reconsidering Citizens United as a Press Clause Case|journal=The Yale Law Journal|date=November 2013|volume=123 2013–2014|pages=266–529|url=http://www.yalelawjournal.org/essay/reconsidering-citizens-united-as-a-press-clause-case#_ftnref108|access-date=April 19, 2014}}</ref> This right was described in '']'' as "a fundamental personal right" that is not confined to newspapers and periodicals, but also embraces pamphlets and leaflets.<ref>{{ussc|408|665|1972}}, at 704.</ref> In '']'' (1938),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|303|444|1938}}</ref> Chief Justice ] defined "press" as "every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion".<ref>''Lovell'', at 452</ref> ] including newspapers, books, plays, movies, and video games.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28scotus.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |title=Justices Reject Ban on Violent Video Games for Children |first=Adam |last=Liptak |author-link=Adam Liptak |date=June 27, 2011 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 19, 2013 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331114358/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28scotus.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |url-status=live }}</ref> While it is an open question whether people who blog or use social media are journalists entitled to protection by ],<ref>{{cite web|last=Mataconis|first=Doug|title=Bloggers, Media Shield Laws, And The First Amendment|url=http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/bloggers-media-shield-laws-and-the-first-amendment/|publisher=Outside The Beltway|access-date=August 9, 2013|date=May 28, 2013}}</ref> they are protected equally by the Free Speech Clause and the Free Press Clause, because both clauses do not distinguish between media businesses and nonprofessional speakers.<ref name="CornellFirstAmendmentOverview">{{cite encyclopedia|title=First Amendment: An Overview|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_amendment|encyclopedia=Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia|publisher=Legal Information Institute of the Cornell University|access-date=April 18, 2014}}</ref><ref name="McConnellNov2013" /><ref>{{cite web|title=The American Heritage Foundation's Guide to the Constitution: Freedom of Speech and of the Press|url=http://www.heritage.org/constitution#!/amendments/1/essays/140/freedom-of-speech-and-of-the-press|publisher=The American Heritage Foundation|access-date=April 18, 2014|first=Eugene |last=Volokh |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512180333/https://www.heritage.org/constitution|archive-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref><ref name="ECBbritannicaFA20140418" /> This is further shown by the Supreme Court consistently refusing to recognize the First Amendment as providing greater protection to the institutional media than to other speakers.<ref>See '']'', 532 U.S. 514 (2001) where the U.S. Supreme Court "draw no distinction between the media respondents and" a non-institutional respondent.</ref><ref>See '']'', 501 U.S. 663 (1991) where the U.S. Supreme Court held that the press gets no special immunity from laws that apply to others, including those—such as copyright law—that target communication.</ref><ref>See also ''Henry v. Collins'', 380 U.S. 356, 357 (1965) (per curiam) (applying ] to a statement by an arrestee); ''Garrison v. Louisiana'', 379 U.S. 64, 67–68 (1964) (applying Sullivan standard to statements by an elected district attorney); ''New York Times Co. v. Sullivan'', 376 U.S. at 286 (applying identical First Amendment protection to a newspaper defendant and individual defendants).</ref> For example, in a case involving campaign finance laws the Court rejected the "suggestion that communication by corporate members of the institutional press is entitled to greater constitutional protection than the same communication by" non-institutional-press businesses.<ref>'']'', {{ussc|435|765|1978}}</ref> Justice ] stated in a concurring opinion in another case succinctly: "he purpose of the Constitution was not to erect the press into a privileged institution but to protect all persons in their right to print what they will as well as to utter it."<ref>{{cite web |title=Pennekamp v. Florida, 328 U.S. 331 (1946), at 364. Concurring opinion by Felix Frankfurter |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/328/331/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=October 24, 2020 |date=June 3, 1946}}</ref> In ''Mills v. Alabama'' (1943) the Supreme Court laid out the purpose of the free press clause: | |||
]'s depiction of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution in Washington, D.C.]] | |||
{{quote|Whatever differences may exist about interpretations of the First Amendment, there is practically universal agreement that a major purpose of that Amendment was to protect the free discussion of governmental affairs. This, of course, includes discussions of candidates, structures and forms of government, the manner in which government is operated or should be operated, and all such matters relating to political processes. The Constitution specifically selected the press, which includes not only newspapers, books, and magazines, but also humble leaflets and circulars, see '']'', 303 U. S. 444, to play an important role in the discussion of public affairs. Thus, the press serves and was designed to serve as a powerful antidote to any abuses of power by governmental officials, and as a constitutionally chosen means for keeping officials elected by the people responsible to all the people whom they were selected to serve. Suppression of the right of the press to praise or criticize governmental agents and to clamor and contend for or against change, which is all that this editorial did, muzzles one of the very agencies the Framers of our ] thoughtfully and deliberately selected to improve our society and keep it free.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214 (1966), at 218-219 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/384/214/#218 |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=January 10, 2022 |date=May 23, 1966}}</ref>}} | |||
A landmark decision for press freedom came in '']'' (1931),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|283|697|1931}}</ref> in which the Supreme Court rejected ] (pre-publication censorship). In this case, the Minnesota legislature passed a statute allowing courts to shut down "malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspapers", allowing a defense of truth only in cases where the truth had been told "with good motives and for justifiable ends".{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=43}} The Court applied the Free Press Clause to the states, rejecting the statute as unconstitutional. Hughes quoted Madison in the majority decision, writing, "The impairment of the fundamental security of life and property by criminal alliances and official neglect emphasizes the primary need of a vigilant and courageous press."{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=44–45}} | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|408|665|1972}}, the Court ruled that the First Amendment did not grant a ] the right to refuse a ] from a ]. The issue decided in the case was whether a journalist could refuse to "appear and testify before state and Federal grand juries" basing the refusal on the contention that such appearance and testimony "abridges the freedom of speech and press guaranteed by the First Amendment." The 5-4 decision was that such a protection was not provided by the First Amendment. | |||
]'' by ] (pictured here in 2018) led to '']'' (1971), a landmark press freedom decision.]] | |||
However, ''Near'' also noted an exception, allowing prior restraint in cases such as "publication of sailing dates of transports or the number or location of troops".{{sfn|Lewis|2007|pp=46–47}} This exception was a key point in another landmark case four decades later: '']'' (1971),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|403|713|1971}}</ref> in which the administration of President ] sought to ban the publication of the '']'', classified government documents about the Vietnam War secretly copied by analyst ]. The Court found that the Nixon administration had not met the heavy burden of proof required for prior restraint. Justice Brennan, drawing on ''Near'' in a concurrent opinion, wrote that "only governmental allegation and proof that publication must inevitably, directly, and immediately cause the occurrence of an evil kindred to imperiling the safety of a transport already at sea can support even the issuance of an interim restraining order." Justices Black and Douglas went still further, writing that prior restraints were never justified.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001770.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509092209/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001770.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=New York Times Co. v. United States 403 U.S. 713 (1971)|first=Frederick |last=Schauer|date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> | |||
===Taxation of the press=== | |||
State governments retain the right to tax newspapers, just as they may tax other commercial products. Generally, however, taxes that focus exclusively on newspapers have been found unconstitutional. In '']'' {{ussc|297|233|1936}}, the Court invalidated a state tax on newspaper advertising revenues. Similarly, some taxes that give preferential treatment to the press have been struck down. In ''Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland'', {{ussc|481|221|1987}}, for instance, the Court invalidated an ] law exempting "religious, professional, trade and sports journals" from taxation since the law amounted to the regulation of newspaper content. | |||
The courts have rarely treated content-based regulation of journalism with any sympathy. In '']'' (1974),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|418|241|1974}}</ref> the Court unanimously struck down a state law requiring newspapers criticizing political candidates to publish their responses. The state claimed the law had been passed to ensure journalistic responsibility. The Supreme Court found that freedom, but not responsibility, is mandated by the First Amendment and so it ruled that the government may not force newspapers to publish that which they do not desire to publish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-21201322.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509083623/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-21201322.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Dan Paul, 85, leading lawyer for press freedom|first=Dennis |last=Hevesi|date=February 2, 2010|work=The Boston Globe|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|499|439|1991}}, the Supreme Court found that states may treat different types of the media differently, such as by taxing cable television, but not newspapers. The Court found that "differential taxation of speakers, even members of the press, does not implicate the First Amendment unless the tax is directed at, or presents the danger of suppressing, particular ideas." | |||
Content-based regulation of television and radio, however, have been sustained by the Supreme Court in various cases. Since there is a limited number of frequencies for non-cable television and radio stations, the government licenses them to various companies. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the problem of scarcity does not allow the raising of a First Amendment issue. The government may restrain broadcasters, but only on a '''content-neutral basis'''. In '']'',<ref>'']'', {{ussc|438|726|1978}}</ref> the Supreme Court upheld the ]'s authority to restrict the use of "]" material in broadcasting. | |||
===Content regulation=== | |||
The courts have rarely treated content-based regulation of journalism with any sympathy. In '']'', {{ussc|418|241|1974}}, the Court unanimously struck down a state law requiring newspapers criticizing political candidates to publish their responses. The state claimed that the law had been passed to ensure journalistic responsibility. The Supreme Court found that freedom, but not responsibility, is mandated by the First Amendment and so it ruled that the government may not force newspapers to publish that which they do not desire to publish. | |||
State governments retain the right to tax newspapers, just as they may tax other commercial products. Generally, however, taxes that focus exclusively on newspapers have been found unconstitutional. In '']'' (1936),<ref>'']'' {{ussc|297|233|1936}}</ref> the Court invalidated a state tax on newspaper advertising revenues, holding that the role of the press in creating "informed public opinion" was vital.{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=46}} Similarly, some taxes that give preferential treatment to the press have been struck down. In ''Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland'' (1987),<ref>''Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland'', {{ussc|481|221|1987}}</ref> for instance, the Court invalidated an ] law exempting "religious, professional, trade and sports journals" from taxation since the law amounted to the regulation of newspaper content. In ''Leathers v. Medlock'' (1991),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|499|439|1991}}</ref> the Supreme Court found that states may treat different types of the media differently, such as by taxing cable television, but not newspapers. The Court found that "differential taxation of speakers, even members of the press, does not implicate the First Amendment unless the tax is directed at, or presents the danger of suppressing, particular ideas."<ref>''Leathers'', at 453</ref> | |||
Content-based regulation of television and radio, however, have been sustained by the Supreme Court in various cases. Since there are a limited number of frequencies for non-cable television and radio stations, the government licenses them to various companies. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the problem of scarcity does not permit the raising of a First Amendment issue. The government may restrain broadcasters, but only on a content-neutral basis. | |||
In '']'' (1972),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|408|665|1972}}</ref> the Court ruled that the First Amendment did not give a journalist the right to refuse a ] from a ]. The issue decided in the case was whether a journalist could refuse to "appear and testify before state and Federal grand juries" basing the refusal on the belief that such appearance and testimony "abridges the freedom of speech and press guaranteed by the First Amendment".<ref>''Branzburg'', 667</ref> The decision was that such a protection was not provided by the First Amendment. However, a concurring opinion by Justice ], in which he said a claim for press privilege "should be judged on its facts by the striking of a proper balance between freedom of the press and the obligation of all citizens to give relevant testimony with respect to criminal conduct. The balance of these vital constitutional and societal interests on a case-by-case basis accords with the tried and traditional way of adjudicating such questions," has been frequently cited by lower courts since the decision.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425000283.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509085553/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425000283.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Branzburg v. Hayes 408 U.S. 665 (1972)|date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> | |||
In '']'', {{ussc|438|726|1978}}, the Supreme Court upheld the ]'s authority to restrict the use of "]" material in broadcasting. | |||
==Petition and assembly== | ==Petition and assembly== | ||
{{Main|Right to petition in the United States|Freedom of assembly}} | |||
The right to petition the government has been interpreted as extending to petitions of all three branches: the Congress, the executive and the judiciary. The Supreme Court has interpreted "redress of grievances" broadly; thus, it is possible for one to request the government to exercise its powers in furtherance of the general public good. However, a few times Congress has directly limited the right to petition. During the 1790s, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, punishing opponents of the ]; the Supreme Court never ruled on the matter. In 1835 the House of Representatives adopted the "]," barring abolitionist petitions calling for the end of slavery. The Supreme Court did not hear a case related to the rule, which was in any event abolished in 1844. During World War I, individuals petitioning for the repeal of sedition and espionage laws (''see above'') were punished; again, the Supreme Court did not rule on the matter. | |||
{{Further<!--Main is ONLY for summary-style overviews of a subarticle; Further is the correct template when "the section expounds a specific aspect of the topic instead of summarizing its article".-->|Right to petition in the United States|Freedom of assembly}} | |||
The right of assembly was originally closely tied to the right to petition. One significant case involving the two rights was '']'', {{ussc|92|542|1875}}. There, the Supreme Court held that citizens may "assemble for the purpose of petitioning Congress for a redress of grievances." Essentially, it was held that the right to assemble was secondary, while the right to petition was primary. Later cases, however, have expanded the meaning of the right to assembly. '']'', {{ussc|307|496|1939}}, for instance, refers to the right to assemble for the "communication of views on national questions" and for "disseminating information." | |||
] ruled in '']'' (1875) that the right of assembly was a secondary right to the right to petition.]] | |||
The Petition Clause protects the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances".<ref name="CornellFirstAmendmentOverview"/> The right expanded over the years: "It is no longer confined to demands for 'a redress of grievances', in any accurate meaning of these words, but comprehends demands for an exercise by the government of its powers in furtherance of the interest and prosperity of the petitioners and of their views on politically contentious matters."<ref name="Findlaw20121005" /> The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances therefore includes the right to communicate with government officials, lobbying government officials and petitioning the courts by filing lawsuits with a legal basis.<ref name="ECBbritannicaFA20140418">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Eugene Volokh|title=First Amendment (United States Constitution)|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/208044/First-Amendment|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=April 18, 2014|date=January 8, 2014}}</ref> The Petition Clause first came to prominence in the 1830s, when Congress established the ] barring anti-slavery petitions from being heard; the rule was overturned by Congress several years later. Petitions against the ] resulted in imprisonments. The Supreme Court did not rule on either issue.<ref name="Findlaw20121005">{{cite web|title=Findlaw Annotation 21—First Amendment—Rights of assembly and petition|url=https://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1/annotation21.html#1|work=]|access-date=June 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112021125/https://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1/annotation21.html|archive-date=November 12, 2020}}</ref> | |||
In '']'' (1972),<ref>{{ussc|name=California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited|link=|volume=404|page=508|pin=|year=1972}}. {{usgovpd}}</ref> the Supreme Court said the right to petition encompasses "the approach of citizens or groups of them to administrative agencies (which are both creatures of the legislature, and arms of the executive) and to courts, the third branch of Government. Certainly the right to petition extends to all departments of the Government. The right of access to the courts is indeed but one aspect of the right of petition."<ref>''California Motor Transport Co.'', 404 U.S. at 510.</ref> Today, thus, this right encompasses petitions to all three branches of the federal government—the Congress, the executive and the judiciary—and has been extended to the states through incorporation.<ref name="Findlaw20121005" /><ref name="FACenter">{{cite web|url=http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/faq/frequently-asked-questions-petition|title=Frequently Asked Questions—Petition|publisher=First Amendment Center|access-date=April 19, 2013|archive-date=April 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428020515/http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/faq/frequently-asked-questions-petition|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the Supreme Court, "redress of grievances" is to be construed broadly: it includes not solely appeals by the public to the government for the redressing of a grievance in the traditional sense, but also, petitions on behalf of private interests seeking personal gain.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{ussc|name=Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc.|365|127|1961}}</ref> The right protects not only demands for "a redress of grievances" but also demands for government action.<ref name="Findlaw20121005" /><ref name="ReferenceB"/> The petition clause includes according to the Supreme Court the opportunity to institute non-frivolous lawsuits and mobilize popular support to change existing laws in a peaceful manner.<ref name="FACenter" /> | |||
In '']'' (2011),<ref name="Duryea">{{ussc|name=Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri|volume=564|page=379|year=2011}}. {{usgovpd}}</ref> the Supreme Court stated regarding the Free Speech Clause and the Petition Clause: | |||
{{blockquote|It is not necessary to say that the two Clauses are identical in their mandate or their purpose and effect to acknowledge that the rights of speech and petition share substantial common ground{{nbsp}}... Both speech and petition are integral to the democratic process, although not necessarily in the same way. The right to petition allows citizens to express their ideas, hopes, and concerns to their government and their elected representatives, whereas the right to speak fosters the public exchange of ideas that is integral to deliberative democracy as well as to the whole realm of ideas and human affairs. Beyond the political sphere, both speech and petition advance personal expression, although the right to petition is generally concerned with expression directed to the government seeking redress of a grievance.<ref name="Duryea"/>}} | |||
The right of assembly is the ] of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their collective or shared ideas.<ref>Jeremy McBride, Freedom of Association, in The Essentials of{{nbsp}}... Human Rights, Hodder Arnold, London, 2005, pp. 18–20</ref> This right is equally important as those of free speech and free press, because, as observed by the Supreme Court of the United States in '']'', 299 U.S. 353, 364, 365 (1937), the right of peaceable assembly is "cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental{{nbsp}}... is one that cannot be denied without violating those fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all civil and political institutions—principles which the ] embodies in the general terms of ]{{nbsp}}... The holding of meetings for peaceable political action cannot be proscribed. Those who assist in the conduct of such meetings cannot be branded as criminals on that score. The question{{nbsp}}... is not as to the auspices under which the meeting is held but as to its purpose; not as to the relations of the speakers, but whether their utterances transcend the bounds of the freedom of speech which the Constitution protects."<ref name="Findlaw20121005" /> The right of peaceable assembly was originally distinguished from the right to petition.<ref name="Findlaw20121005" /> In '']'' (1875),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|92|542|1875}}</ref> the first case in which the right to assembly was before the Supreme Court,<ref name="Findlaw20121005" /> the court broadly declared the outlines of the right of assembly and its connection to the right of petition: | |||
<blockquote>The right of the people peaceably to assemble for the purpose of petitioning Congress for a redress of grievances, or for anything else connected with the powers or duties of the National Government, is an attribute of national citizenship, and, as such, under protection of, and guaranteed by, the United States. The very idea of a government, republican in form, implies a right on the part of its citizens to meet peaceably for consultation in respect to public affairs and to petition for a redress of grievances.<ref>''Cruikshank'', at 552</ref></blockquote> | |||
Justice ]'s opinion for the Court carefully distinguished the right to peaceably assemble as a secondary right, while the right to petition was labeled to be a primary right. Later cases, however, paid less attention to these distinctions.<ref name="Findlaw20121005" /> An example for this is '']'' (1939), where it was decided that the freedom of assembly covered by the First Amendment applies to ] like streets and parks.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Successes of the American Civil Liberties Union|url=https://www.aclu.org/successes-american-civil-liberties-union|publisher=American Civil Liberties Union|access-date=June 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026145318/https://www.aclu.org/successes-american-civil-liberties-union|archive-date=October 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Findlaw20121005" /> In ''Hague'' the right of assembly was given a broad meaning, because the right of assembly can be used "for communication of views on national questions"<ref>{{cite web |title=Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496 (1939), at 516 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/307/496/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026145634/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/307/496/ |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |date=June 5, 1939}}</ref> as well as for "holding meetings and disseminating information whether for the organization of labor unions or for any other lawful purpose."<ref>{{cite web |title=Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496 (1939), at 525 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/307/496/ |publisher=Justia US Supreme Court Center |access-date=October 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026145634/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/307/496/ |archive-date=October 26, 2023 |date=June 5, 1939}}</ref> In two 1960s decisions collectively known as forming the ],{{efn|'']'' (1961) and '']'' (1965)}} the Court established that the right to petition prohibited the application of ] to statements made by private entities before public bodies: a monopolist may freely go before the city council and encourage the denial of its competitor's building permit without being subject to ] liability.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-321223711|title=Competition and the Noerr-Pennington doctrine: When should political activity be barred under European community competition law?|author=William Cooney|date=January 1, 2003|publisher=The George Washington International Law Review|via=|url-access= |access-date= }}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> | |||
==Freedom of association== | ==Freedom of association== | ||
{{Main|Freedom of association#US Constitution}} | |||
Although it is not expressly protected in the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled, in '']'', {{ussc|357|449|1958}}, freedom of association to be a fundamental right protected by it. In '']'', {{ussc|530|640|2000}}, the Supreme Court ruled that a New Jersey law, which forced the ] to admit an openly ] member, to be an unconstitutional abridgment of the Boy Scouts' right to free association. | |||
{{Further|Freedom of association#United States Constitution}} | |||
==International significance== | |||
Most provisions of the United States Bill of Rights are based on the ] and on other aspects of ]. The English Bill of Rights, however, does not include many of the protections found in the First Amendment. For example, while the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech to the general populace, the English Bill of Rights only protected "freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament." The ], a French revolutionary document passed only weeks before Congress proposed the Bill of Rights, contains certain guarantees that are similar to the First Amendment's. For instance, it suggests that "every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom."<ref></ref> | |||
Although the First Amendment does not explicitly mention freedom of association, the Supreme Court ruled, in '']'' (1958),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|357|449|1958}}</ref><ref>Wayne Batchis, Citizens United and the Paradox of "Corporate Speech": From Freedom of Association to Freedom of The Association, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513015149/http://socialchangenyu.com/2013/02/01/citizens-united-and-the-paradox-of-corporate-speech/|date=May 13, 2013}} (2012).</ref> that this freedom was protected by the amendment and that privacy of membership was an essential part of this freedom.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000015.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509093108/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3457000015.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= May 9, 2013|title=National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama 1958|date=January 1, 2000|work=Supreme Court Drama: Cases That Changed America|publisher=|access-date=April 13, 2013}}</ref> In '']'' (1984), the Court stated that "implicit in the right to engage in activities protected by the First Amendment" is "a corresponding right to associate with others in pursuit of a wide variety of political, social, economic, educational, religious, and cultural ends".<ref>'']'', {{ussc|468|609|1984}}</ref> In ''Roberts'' the Court held that associations may not exclude people for reasons unrelated to the group's expression, such as gender.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-834011751|title=What is Really Wrong with Compelled Association?|author=Shiffrin, Seana Valentine|author-link=Seana Shiffrin|date=January 1, 2005|work=Northwestern University Law Review|via=|url-access=|access-date=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> | |||
While the First Amendment does not explicitly set restrictions on freedom of speech, other declarations of rights sometimes do so. The ], for example, permits restrictions "in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or the rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."<ref></ref> Similarly the Indian constitution allows "reasonable" restrictions upon free speech to serve "public order, security of State, decency or morality."<ref>''Constitution of India'', art. 19, cl. 2 {{en icon}}</ref> | |||
However, in '']'' (1995),<ref>'']'', {{ussc|515|557|1995}}</ref> the Court ruled that a group may exclude people from membership if their presence would affect the group's ability to advocate a particular point of view.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001252.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509082442/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3425001252.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, And Bisexual Group of Boston 515 U.S. 557 (1995)|date=January 1, 2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Constitution|publisher=|access-date=April 13, 2013}}</ref> Likewise, in '']'' (2000),<ref>{{ussc|name=Boy Scouts of America v. Dale|530|640|2000}}</ref> the Court ruled that a New Jersey law, which forced the ] to admit an openly gay member, to be an unconstitutional abridgment of the Boy Scouts' right to free association.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2587400073.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509105313/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2587400073.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 9, 2013|title=Boy Scouts of America v. Dale|date=January 1, 2006|work=Gender Issues and Sexuality: Essential Primary Sources|publisher=|access-date=April 13, 2013}}</ref> | |||
The First Amendment was one of the first guarantees of religious freedom: neither the ], nor the French Declaration of Rights, contains an equivalent guarantee. | |||
In '']'' (2021), the Court ruled that California's requiring disclosure of the identities of nonprofit companies' big-money donors did not serve a narrowly tailored government interest and, thus, violated those donors' First Amendment rights.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Howe|first=Amy|date=July 1, 2021|title=Divided Court Invalidates California Donor Disclosure Rules|url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/07/divided-court-invalidates-california-donor-disclosure-rules/|access-date=July 2, 2021}}</ref> | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} | |||
*] | |||
*] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
*] | |||
*] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
*'']'' - Established the ''Lemon Test'' for evaluating government violations of the ''Establishment Clause''. | |||
*] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
*] | * ] | ||
*] | * ] | ||
*] | * ] | ||
* ] | |||
*] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
{{div col end}} | |||
== Explanatory notes == | |||
{{notelist}} | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
=== Citations === | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
{{Reflist|25em}} | |||
=== General and cited references === | |||
==Sources== | |||
* {{cite book|last=Abrams|first=Floyd|author-link=Floyd Abrams|title=Speaking freely|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eRQIMWrCfhEC|access-date=April 4, 2013|date=April 4, 2006|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-303675-3}} | |||
*Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall. ''The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings on Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations in the American Founding'' (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund Press, 2009) | |||
* {{cite book|last=Beeman|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Beeman|title=Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eyCX5Vrn7wC|access-date=April 4, 2013|year=2009|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-58836-726-6}} | |||
*Daniel L. Dreisbach, Mark David Hall, and Jeffry Morrison. ''The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life'' (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009) | |||
* {{cite book|first=Margaret C. |last=Jasper|title=The Law of Speech and the First Amendment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITpDAQAAIAAJ|access-date=April 4, 2013|year=1999|publisher=Oceana Publications|isbn=978-0-379-11335-8}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite book|first=William Edward|last=Nelson|title=Americanization of the Common Law: The Impact of Legal Change on Massachusetts Society, 1760-1830|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64S-E0fRn4YC|access-date=April 19, 2013|year=1994|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-1587-4}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite book|first=Martin L. |last=Newell|title=The Law of Libel and Slander in Civil and Criminal Cases: As Administered in the Courts of the United States of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iXk9AAAAIAAJ|access-date=April 19, 2013|year=1898|publisher=Callaghan}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Anthony|title=]<!--|commenting; requires URL: accessdate=April 4, 2013-->|year=2007|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-01819-2}} | |||
*Irons, P. (1999). ''A People's History of the Supreme Court'' New York: Penguin. | |||
*{{cite journal|last=Emerson|first=Thomas I.|coauthors=|year=1963|title=Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment|journal=]|volume=72|issue=5|pages=877–956|doi=10.2307/794655}} | |||
==Further reading== | |||
* {{cite book|last=Curtis|first=Michael Kent|title-link=Free Speech, "The People's Darling Privilege"|title=Free Speech, "The People's Darling Privilege": Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American History|year=2000|publisher=]|isbn=0822325292}} | |||
* Daniel L. Dreisbach and ]. ''The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings on Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations in the American Founding''. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund Press, 2009. | |||
* Daniel L. Dreisbach, Mark David Hall, and Jeffry Morrison. ''The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life'' Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009. | |||
* ], "Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment", ''Yale Law Journal'', vol. 72, no. 5 (1963), pp. 877–956. {{doi|10.2307/794655}}. {{JSTOR|794655}}. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Godwin|first=Mike|author-link=Mike Godwin|year=2003|title=Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age|title-link=Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=0262571684}} | |||
* Peter Irons, ''A People's History of the Supreme Court''. New York: Penguin, 1999. | |||
* {{cite book|first=Kembrew|last=McLeod|author-link=Kembrew McLeod|others=foreword by Lawrence Lessig|title=Freedom of Expression: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property|title-link=Freedom of Expression(R)|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0816650316}} | |||
* Kabala, James S., ''Church-State Relations in the Early American Republic, 1787–1846''. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2013. | |||
* Johnny Killian and George Costello (eds.) (2000). ''The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation'',. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409061757/https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-1/ |date=April 9, 2022 }} | |||
* Nicholas P. Miller, ''The Religious Roots of the First Amendment: Dissenting Protestants and the Separation of Church and State''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Samuel P.|title=Beyond the First Amendment: The Politics of Free Speech and Pluralism|title-link=Beyond the First Amendment|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2005|isbn=0801881730}} | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|First Amendment.ogg| |
{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|First Amendment.ogg|date=June 30, 2006}} | ||
{{sisterlinks|d=Q12616|c=Category:First Amendment to the United States Constitution|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|wikt=First Amendment}} | |||
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* {{webarchive |url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20041016163435/http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/adultent/topic.aspx?topic=pornography |title=First Amendment Center—The First Amendment Library |date=October 16, 2004}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite web|last=Ruane|first=Kathleen Anne|title=Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment|work=Legislative Attorney|publisher=Congressional Research Service|date=September 8, 2014|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-815.pdf|access-date=March 18, 2021}} | |||
* {{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Henry|title=Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment|publisher=]|date=October 16, 2009|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-815.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208193354/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-815.pdf|archive-date=February 8, 2010|access-date=January 1, 2012}} | |||
* {{cite web|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-815.pdf|title=Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment|publisher=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050924140611/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-815.pdf|archive-date=September 24, 2005}} – Updated May 24, 2005 | |||
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Latest revision as of 23:02, 21 December 2024
1791 amendment limiting government restriction of civil rights "First Amendment" redirects here. For the first amendments to other constitutions, see First Amendment (disambiguation).
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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.
In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the Court drew on Thomas Jefferson's correspondence to call for "a wall of separation between church and State", a literary but clarifying metaphor for the separation of religions from government and vice versa as well as the free exercise of religious beliefs that many Founders favored. Through decades of contentious litigation, the precise boundaries of the mandated separation have been adjudicated in ways that periodically created controversy. 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 Supreme Court overturned English common law precedent to increase the burden of proof for defamation and libel suits, most notably in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964). Commercial speech, however, is less protected by the First Amendment than political speech, and is therefore subject to greater regulation.
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 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.
Although the First Amendment applies only to state actors, there is a common misconception that it prohibits anyone from limiting free speech, including private, non-governmental entities. Moreover, the Supreme Court has determined that protection of speech is not absolute.
Text
The hand-written copy of the proposed articles of amendment passed by Congress in 1789, cropped to show just the text in the third article that would later be ratified as the First AmendmentCongress 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.
Background
Further information: Anti-FederalismThe right to petition for redress of grievances was a principle included in the 1215 Magna Carta, as well as the 1689 English Bill of Rights. In 1776, the second year of the American Revolutionary War, the Virginia colonial legislature passed a Declaration of Rights that included the sentence "The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments." Eight of the other twelve states made similar pledges. However, these declarations were generally considered "mere admonitions to state legislatures", rather than enforceable provisions.
After several years of comparatively weak government under the Articles of Confederation, a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia proposed a new constitution on September 17, 1787, featuring among other changes a stronger chief executive. George Mason, a Constitutional Convention delegate and the drafter of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, proposed that the Constitution include a bill of rights listing and guaranteeing civil liberties. Other delegates—including future Bill of Rights drafter James Madison—disagreed, arguing that existing state guarantees of civil liberties were sufficient and any attempt to enumerate individual rights risked the implication that other, unnamed rights were unprotected. After a brief debate, Mason's proposal was defeated by a unanimous vote of the state delegations.
For the constitution to be ratified, however, nine of the thirteen states were required to approve it in state conventions. Opposition to ratification ("Anti-Federalism") was partly based on the Constitution's lack of adequate guarantees for civil liberties. Supporters of the Constitution in states where popular sentiment was against ratification (including Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York) successfully proposed that their state conventions both ratify the Constitution and call for the addition of a bill of rights. The U.S. Constitution was eventually ratified by all thirteen states. In the 1st United States Congress, following the state legislatures' request, James Madison proposed twenty constitutional amendments, and his proposed draft of the First Amendment read as follows:
The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed. The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable. The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions, or remonstrances, for redress of their grievances.
This language was greatly condensed by Congress, and passed the House and Senate with almost no recorded debate, complicating future discussion of the Amendment's intent. Congress approved and submitted to the states for their ratification twelve articles of amendment on September 25, 1789. The revised text of the third article became the First Amendment, because the last ten articles of the submitted 12 articles were ratified by the requisite number of states on December 15, 1791, and are now known collectively as the Bill of Rights.
Freedom of religion
Main articles: Freedom of religion in the United States and Religion in the United StatesReligious liberty, also known as freedom of religion, is "the right of all persons to believe, speak, and act – individually and in community with others, in private and in public – in accord with their understanding of ultimate truth." The acknowledgement of religious freedom as the first right protected in the Bill of Rights points toward the American founders' understanding of the importance of religion to human, social, and political flourishing. Freedom of religion is protected by the First Amendment through its Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause, which together form the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment. The first clause prohibits any governmental "establishment of religion" and the second prohibits any governmental interference with "the free exercise thereof." These clauses of the First Amendment encompass "the two big arenas of religion in constitutional law. Establishment cases deal with the Constitution's ban on Congress endorsing, promoting or becoming too involved with religion. Free exercise cases deal with Americans' rights to practice their faith." Both clauses sometimes compete with each other. The Supreme Court in McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005) clarified this by the following example: When the government spends money on the clergy, then it looks like establishing religion, but if the government cannot pay for military chaplains, then many soldiers and sailors would be kept from the opportunity to exercise their chosen religions. The Supreme Court developed the preferred position doctrine. In Murdock v. Pennsylvania (1943) the Supreme Court stated that "Freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion are in a preferred position". The Court added:
Plainly, a community may not suppress, or the state tax, the dissemination of views because they are unpopular, annoying or distasteful. If that device were ever sanctioned, there would have been forged a ready instrument for the suppression of the faith which any minority cherishes but which does not happen to be in favor. That would be a complete repudiation of the philosophy of the Bill of Rights.
In his dissenting opinion in McGowan v. Maryland (1961), Justice William O. Douglas illustrated the broad protections offered by the First Amendment's religious liberty clauses:
The First Amendment commands government to have no interest in theology or ritual; it admonishes government to be interested in allowing religious freedom to flourish—whether the result is to produce Catholics, Jews, or Protestants, or to turn the people toward the path of Buddha, or to end in a predominantly Moslem nation, or to produce in the long run atheists or agnostics. On matters of this kind, government must be neutral. This freedom plainly includes freedom from religion, with the right to believe, speak, write, publish and advocate anti-religious programs. Board of Education v. Barnette, supra, 319 U. S. 641. Certainly the "free exercise" clause does not require that everyone embrace the theology of some church or of some faith, or observe the religious practices of any majority or minority sect. The First Amendment, by its "establishment" clause, prevents, of course, the selection by government of an "official" church. Yet the ban plainly extends farther than that. We said in Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U. S. 1, 330 U. S. 16, that it would be an "establishment" of a religion if the Government financed one church or several churches. For what better way to "establish" an institution than to find the fund that will support it? The "establishment" clause protects citizens also against any law which selects any religious custom, practice, or ritual, puts the force of government behind it, and fines, imprisons, or otherwise penalizes a person for not observing it. The Government plainly could not join forces with one religious group and decree a universal and symbolic circumcision. Nor could it require all children to be baptized or give tax exemptions only to those whose children were baptized.
—Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in her concurring opinion in McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005).Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?
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." The history of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause and the Supreme Court's own constitutional jurisprudence with respect to these clauses was explained in the 1985 case Wallace v. Jaffree. The Supreme Court noted at the outset that the First Amendment limits equally the power of Congress and of the states to abridge the individual freedoms it protects. The First Amendment was adopted to curtail the power of Congress to interfere with the individual's freedom to believe, to worship, and to express himself in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment imposes on the states the same limitations the First Amendment had always imposed on the Congress. This "elementary proposition of law" was confirmed and endorsed time and time again in cases like Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 303 (1940) and Wooley v. Maynard (1977). The central liberty that unifies the various clauses in the First Amendment is the individual's freedom of conscience:
Just as the right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of a broader concept of individual freedom of mind, so also the individual's freedom to choose his own creed is the counterpart of his right to refrain from accepting the creed established by the majority. At one time, it was thought that this right merely proscribed the preference of one Christian sect over another, but would not require equal respect for the conscience of the infidel, the atheist, or the adherent of a non-Christian faith such as Islam or Judaism. But when the underlying principle has been examined in the crucible of litigation, the Court has unambiguously concluded that the individual freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment embraces the right to select any religious faith or none at all. This conclusion derives support not only from the interest in respecting the individual's freedom of conscience, but also from the conviction that religious beliefs worthy of respect are the product of free and voluntary choice by the faithful, and from recognition of the fact that the political interest in forestalling intolerance extends beyond intolerance among Christian sects – or even intolerance among "religions" – to encompass intolerance of the disbeliever and the uncertain.
Establishment of religion
See also: Establishment ClauseThe precise meaning of the Establishment Clause can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. Thomas Jefferson wrote about the First Amendment and its restriction on Congress in an 1802 reply to the Danbury Baptists, a religious minority that was concerned about the dominant position of the Congregational church in Connecticut, who had written to the newly elected president about their concerns. Jefferson wrote back:
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
In Reynolds v. United States (1878) the Supreme Court used these words to declare that "it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured. Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order." Quoting from Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom the court stated further in Reynolds:
In the preamble of this act ... religious freedom is defined; and after a recital 'that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty,' it is declared 'that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.' In these two sentences is found the true distinction between what properly belongs to the church and what to the State.
Reynolds was the first Supreme Court decision to use the metaphor "a wall of separation between Church and State." American historian George Bancroft was consulted by Chief Justice Morrison Waite in Reynolds regarding the views on establishment by the Founding Fathers. Bancroft advised Waite to consult Jefferson and Waite then discovered the above quoted letter in a library after skimming through the index to Jefferson's collected works according to historian Don Drakeman.
The Establishment Clause forbids federal, state, and local laws whose purpose is "an establishment of religion." The term "establishment" denoted in general direct aid to the church by the government. In Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc. (1982) the Supreme Court stated that "the core rationale underlying the Establishment Clause is preventing 'a fusion of governmental and religious functions,' Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U. S. 203, 374 U. S. 222 (1963)." The Establishment Clause acts as a double security, for its aim is as well the prevention of religious control over government as the prevention of political control over religion. The First Amendment's framers knew that intertwining government with religion could lead to bloodshed or oppression, because this happened too often historically. To prevent this dangerous development they set up the Establishment Clause as a line of demarcation between the functions and operations of the institutions of religion and government in society. The Federal government of the United States as well as the state governments are prohibited from establishing or sponsoring religion, because, as observed by the Supreme Court in Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York (1970), the 'establishment' of a religion historically implied sponsorship, financial support, and active involvement of the sovereign in religious activity. The Establishment Clause thus serves to ensure laws, as said by Supreme Court in Gillette v. United States (1970), which are "secular in purpose, evenhanded in operation, and neutral in primary impact".
The First Amendment's prohibition on an establishment of religion includes many things from prayer in widely varying government settings over financial aid for religious individuals and institutions to comment on religious questions. The Supreme Court stated in this context: "In these varied settings, issues of about interpreting inexact Establishment Clause language, like difficult interpretative issues generally, arise from the tension of competing values, each constitutionally respectable, but none open to realization to the logical limit." The National Constitution Center observes that, absent some common interpretations by jurists, the precise meaning of the Establishment Clause is unclear and that decisions by the United Supreme Court relating to the Establishment Clause often are by 5–4 votes. The Establishment Clause, however, reflects a widely held consensus that there should be no nationally established church after the American Revolutionary War. Against this background the National Constitution Center states:
Virtually all jurists agree that it would violate the Establishment Clause for the government to compel attendance or financial support of a religious institution as such, for the government to interfere with a religious organization's selection of clergy or religious doctrine; for religious organizations or figures acting in a religious capacity to exercise governmental power; or for the government to extend benefits to some religious entities and not others without adequate secular justification.
Originally, the First Amendment applied only to the federal government, and some states continued official state religions after ratification. Massachusetts, for example, was officially Congregational until the 1830s. In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the Supreme Court incorporated the Establishment Clause (i.e., made it apply against the states):
The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion to another ... in the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between church and State'. ... That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.
Citing Justice Hugo Black in Torcaso v. Watkins (1961) the Supreme Court repeated its statement from Everson v. Board of Education (1947) in Abington School District v. Schempp (1963):
We repeat and again reaffirm that neither a State nor the Federal Government can constitutionally force a person 'to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.' Neither can it constitutionally pass laws or impose requirements which aid all religions as against non-believers, and neither can it aid those religions based on a belief in the existence of God as against those religions founded on different beliefs.
At the core of the Establishment Clause lays the core principle of denominational neutrality. In Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) the Supreme Court outlined the broad principle of denominational neutrality mandated by the First Amendment: "Government in our democracy, state and national, must be neutral in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice. It may not be hostile to any religion or to the advocacy of no-religion, and it may not aid, foster, or promote one religion or religious theory against another or even against the militant opposite. The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion." The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is, according to the Supreme Court in Larson v. Valente, 456 U.S. 228 (1982), that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another. In Zorach v. Clauson (1952) the Supreme Court further observed: "Government may not finance religious groups nor undertake religious instruction nor blend secular and sectarian education nor use secular institutions to force one or some religion on any person. But we find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence. The government must be neutral when it comes to competition between sects. It may not thrust any sect on any person. It may not make a religious observance compulsory. It may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take religious instruction. But it can close its doors or suspend its operations as to those who want to repair to their religious sanctuary for worship or instruction." In McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005) the Court explained that when the government acts with the ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing religion, then it violates that central Establishment Clause value of official religious neutrality, because there is no neutrality when the government's ostensible object is to take sides.
In Torcaso v. Watkins (1961), the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from requiring any kind of religious test for public office. The Supreme Court in the same case made it also clear that state governments and the federal government are prohibited from passing laws or imposing requirements which aid all religions as against non-believers, as well as aiding those religions based on a belief in the existence of God as against those religions founded on different beliefs. In Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994), the Court concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion." In a series of cases in the first decade of the 2000s—Van Orden v. Perry (2005), McCreary County v. ACLU (2005), and Salazar v. Buono (2010)—the Court considered the issue of religious monuments on federal lands without reaching a majority reasoning on the subject.
Separationists
Everson used the metaphor of a wall of separation between church and state, derived from the correspondence of President Thomas Jefferson. It had been long established in the decisions of the Supreme Court, beginning with Reynolds v. United States (1878), when the Court reviewed the history of the early Republic in deciding the extent of the liberties of Mormons. Chief Justice Morrison Waite, who consulted the historian George Bancroft, also discussed at some length the Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments by James Madison, who drafted the First Amendment; Madison used the metaphor of a "great barrier".
In Everson, the Court adopted Jefferson's words. The Court has affirmed it often, with majority, but not unanimous, support. Warren Nord, in Does God Make a Difference?, characterized the general tendency of the dissents as a weaker reading of the First Amendment; the dissents tend to be "less concerned about the dangers of establishment and less concerned to protect free exercise rights, particularly of religious minorities".
Beginning with Everson, which permitted New Jersey school boards to pay for transportation to parochial schools, the Court has used various tests to determine when the wall of separation has been breached. Everson laid down the test that establishment existed when aid was given to religion, but that the transportation was justifiable because the benefit to the children was more important.
Felix Frankfurter called in his concurrence opinion in McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) for a strict separation between state and church: "Separation means separation, not something less. Jefferson's metaphor in describing the relation between Church and State speaks of a 'wall of separation', not of a fine line easily overstepped. ... 'The great American principle of eternal separation'—Elihu Root's phrase bears repetition—is one of the vital reliances of our Constitutional system for assuring unities among our people stronger than our diversities. It is the Court's duty to enforce this principle in its full integrity."
In the school prayer cases of the early 1960s Engel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp, aid seemed irrelevant. The Court ruled on the basis that a legitimate action both served a secular purpose and did not primarily assist religion.
In Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York (1970), the Court ruled that a legitimate action could not entangle government with religion. In Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), these points were combined into the Lemon test, declaring that an action was an establishment if:
- the statute (or practice) lacked a secular purpose;
- its principal or primary effect advanced or inhibited religion; or
- it fostered an excessive government entanglement with religion.
The Lemon test has been criticized by justices and legal scholars, but it has remained the predominant means by which the Court enforced the Establishment Clause. In Agostini v. Felton (1997), the entanglement prong of the Lemon test was converted to simply being a factor in determining the effect of the challenged statute or practice. In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), the opinion of the Court considered secular purpose and the absence of primary effect; a concurring opinion saw both cases as having treated entanglement as part of the primary purpose test. Further tests, such as the endorsement test and coercion test, have been developed to determine whether a government action violated the Establishment Clause.
In Lemon, the Court stated that the separation of church and state could never be absolute: "Our prior holdings do not call for total separation between church and state; total separation is not possible in an absolute sense. Some relationship between government and religious organizations is inevitable", the court wrote. "Judicial caveats against entanglement must recognize that the line of separation, far from being a 'wall', is a blurred, indistinct, and variable barrier depending on all the circumstances of a particular relationship."
After the Supreme Court ruling in the coach praying case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), the Lemon Test may have been replaced or complemented with a reference to historical practices and understandings.
Accommodationists
Accommodationists, in contrast, argue along with Justice William O. Douglas that "e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." Furthermore, as observed by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York (1970) with respect to the separation of church and state: "No perfect or absolute separation is really possible; the very existence of the Religion Clauses is an involvement of sorts—one that seeks to mark boundaries to avoid excessive entanglement." He also coined the term "benevolent neutrality" as a combination of neutrality and accommodationism in Walz to characterize a way to ensure that there is no conflict between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. Burger's successor, William Rehnquist, called for the abandonment of the "wall of separation between church and State" metaphor in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985), because he believed this metaphor was based on bad history and proved itself useless as a guide to judging.
David Shultz has said that accommodationists claim the Lemon test should be applied selectively. As such, for many conservatives, the Establishment Clause solely prevents the establishment of a state church, not public acknowledgements of God nor 'developing policies that encourage general religious beliefs that do not favor a particular sect and are consistent with the secular government's goals'. In Lynch v. Donnelly (1984), the Supreme Court observed that the "concept of a "wall" of separation between church and state is a useful metaphor, but is not an accurate description of the practical aspects of the relationship that in fact exists. The Constitution does not require complete separation of church and state; it affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any."
Free exercise of religion
See also: Free Exercise ClauseThe acknowledgement of religious freedom as the first right protected in the Bill of Rights points toward the American founders' understanding of the importance of religion to human, social, and political flourishing. The First Amendment makes clear that it sought to protect "the free exercise" of religion, or what might be called "free exercise equality." Free exercise is the liberty of persons to reach, hold, practice and change beliefs freely according to the dictates of conscience. The Free Exercise Clause prohibits governmental interference with religious belief and, within limits, religious practice. "Freedom of religion means freedom to hold an opinion or belief, but not to take action in violation of social duties or subversive to good order." The clause withdraws from legislative power, state and federal, the exertion of any restraint on the free exercise of religion. Its purpose is to secure religious liberty in the individual by prohibiting any invasions thereof by civil authority. "The door of the Free Exercise Clause stands tightly closed against any governmental regulation of religious beliefs as such, Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 310 U. S. 303. Government may neither compel affirmation of a repugnant belief, Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U. S. 488; nor penalize or discriminate against individuals or groups because they hold religious views abhorrent to the authorities, Fowler v. Rhode Island, 345 U. S. 67; nor employ the taxing power to inhibit the dissemination of particular religious views, Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U. S. 105; Follett v. McCormick, 321 U. S. 573; cf. Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U. S. 233."
The Free Exercise Clause offers a double protection, for it is a shield not only against outright prohibitions with respect to the free exercise of religion, but also against penalties on the free exercise of religion and against indirect governmental coercion. Relying on Employment Division v. Smith (1990) and quoting from Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah (1993) the Supreme Court stated in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer (2017) that religious observers are protected against unequal treatment by virtue of the Free Exercise Clause and laws which target the religious for "special disabilities" based on their "religious status" must be covered by the application of strict scrutiny.
In Reynolds v. United States (1878), the Supreme Court found that while laws cannot interfere with religious belief and opinions, laws can regulate religious practices like human sacrifice or the obsolete Hindu practice of suttee. The Court stated that to rule otherwise, "would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government would exist only in name under such circumstances." If the purpose or effect of a law is to impede the observance of one or all religions, or is to discriminate invidiously between religions, that law is constitutionally invalid even though the burden may be characterized as being only indirect. But if the State regulates conduct by enacting a general law within its power, the purpose and effect of which is to advance the State's secular goals, the statute is valid despite its indirect burden on religious observance unless the State may accomplish its purpose by means which do not impose such a burden.
In Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940), the Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applied the Free Exercise Clause to the states. While the right to have religious beliefs is absolute, the freedom to act on such beliefs is not absolute. Religious freedom is a universal right of all human beings and all religions, providing for the free exercise of religion or free exercise equality. Due to its nature as fundamental to the American founding and to the ordering of human society, it is rightly seen as a capricious right, i.e. universal, broad, and deep—though not absolute. Justice Field put it clearly in Davis v. Beason (1890): "However free the exercise of religion may be, it must be subordinate to the criminal laws of the country, passed with reference to actions regarded by general consent as properly the subjects of punitive legislation." Furthermore, the Supreme Court in Employment Division v. Smith made clear that "the right of free exercise does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a "valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes)." United States v. Lee, 455 U. S. 252, 455 U. S. 263, n. 3 (1982) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment); see Minersville School Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Gobitis, supra, 310 U.S. at 310 U. S. 595 (collecting cases)." Smith also set the precedent "that laws affecting certain religious practices do not violate the right to free exercise of religion as long as the laws are neutral, generally applicable, and not motivated by animus to religion."
To accept any creed or the practice of any form of worship cannot be compelled by laws, because, as stated by the Supreme Court in Braunfeld v. Brown (1961), the freedom to hold religious beliefs and opinions is absolute. Federal or state legislation cannot therefore make it a crime to hold any religious belief or opinion due to the Free Exercise Clause. Legislation by the United States or any constituent state of the United States which forces anyone to embrace any religious belief or to say or believe anything in conflict with his religious tenets is also barred by the Free Exercise Clause. Against this background, the Supreme Court stated that Free Exercise Clause broadly protects religious beliefs and opinions:
The free exercise of religion means, first and foremost, the right to believe and profess whatever religious doctrine one desires. Thus, the First Amendment obviously excludes all "governmental regulation of religious beliefs as such." Sherbert v. Verner supra, 374 U.S. at 374 U. S. 402. The government may not compel affirmation of religious belief, see Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U. S. 488 (1961), punish the expression of religious doctrines it believes to be false, United States v. Ballard, 322 U. S. 78, 322 U. S. 86–88 (1944), impose special disabilities on the basis of religious views or religious status, see McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U. S. 618 (1978); Fowler v. Rhode Island, 345 U. S. 67, 345 U. S. 69 (1953); cf. Larson v. Valente, 456 U. S. 228, 456 U. S. 245 (1982), or lend its power to one or the other side in controversies over religious authority or dogma, see Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, 393 U. S. 440, 393 U. S. 445–452 (1969); Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, 344 U. S. 94, 344 U. S. 95–119 (1952); Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U. S. 696, 426 U. S. 708–725 (1976). But the "exercise of religion" often involves not only belief and profession but the performance of (or abstention from) physical acts: assembling with others for a worship service, participating in sacramental use of bread and wine, proselytizing, abstaining from certain foods or certain modes of transportation. It would be true, we think (though no case of ours has involved the point), that a state would be "prohibiting the free exercise " if it sought to ban such acts or abstentions only when they are engaged in for religious reasons, or only because of the religious belief that they display. It would doubtless be unconstitutional, for example, to ban the casting of "statues that are to be used for worship purposes," or to prohibit bowing down before a golden calf."
In Sherbert v. Verner (1963), the Supreme Court required states to meet the "strict scrutiny" standard when refusing to accommodate religiously motivated conduct. This meant the government needed to have a "compelling interest" regarding such a refusal. The case involved Adele Sherbert, who was denied unemployment benefits by South Carolina because she refused to work on Saturdays, something forbidden by her Seventh-day Adventist faith. In Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), the Court ruled that a law which "unduly burdens the practice of religion" without a compelling interest, even though it might be "neutral on its face", would be unconstitutional.
The need for a compelling governmental interest was narrowed in Employment Division v. Smith (1990), which held no such interest was required under the Free Exercise Clause regarding a neutral law of general applicability that happens to affect a religious practice, as opposed to a law that targets a particular religious practice (which does require a compelling governmental interest). In Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993), in which the meaning of "neutral law of general applicability" was elaborated by the court, the Supreme Court ruled Hialeah had passed an ordinance banning ritual slaughter, a practice central to the Santería religion, while providing exceptions for some practices such as the kosher slaughter. Since the ordinance was not "generally applicable", the Court ruled that it needed to have a compelling interest, which it failed to have, and so was declared unconstitutional. In this case the Supreme Court also stated that inquiries whether laws discriminate based on religion does not end with the text of the laws at issue. Facial neutrality of laws (i.e. laws which are apparently neutral in their language but in reality discriminate against a particular group) is not determinative in these inquiries, because both the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause extends beyond facial discrimination. The Supreme Court explained that "fficial action that targets religious conduct for distinctive treatment cannot be shielded by mere compliance with the requirement of facial neutrality" and "he Free Exercise Clause protects against governmental hostility which is masked as well as overt." The neutrality of a law is also suspect if First Amendment freedoms are curtailed to prevent isolated collateral harms not themselves prohibited by direct regulation. The Court also observed: "The Free Exercise Clause "protect religious observers against unequal treatment," Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla., 480 U. S. 136, 148 (1987) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment), and inequality results when a legislature decides that the governmental interests it seeks to advance are worthy of being pursued only against conduct with a religious motivation. The principle that government, in pursuit of legitimate interests, cannot in a selective manner impose burdens only on conduct motivated by religious belief is essential to the protection of the rights guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause."
In 1993, the Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), seeking to restore the compelling interest requirement applied in Sherbert and Yoder. In City of Boerne v. Flores (1997), the Court struck down the provisions of RFRA that forced state and local governments to provide protections exceeding those required by the First Amendment, on the grounds that while the Congress could enforce the Supreme Court's interpretation of a constitutional right, the Congress could not impose its own interpretation on states and localities. Congress can enact legislation to expand First Amendment free exercise rights through its enforcement powers in Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, but to do so "there must be a congruence and proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end." The decision in City of Boerne struck down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act RFRA in so far as it applied to states and other local municipalities within them., so that partly in response to it 21 states enacted State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts since 1993. According to the court's ruling in Gonzales v. UDV (2006), RFRA remains applicable to federal laws and so those laws must still have a "compelling interest."
RFRA secures Congress’ view of the right to free exercise under the First Amendment, and it provides a remedy to redress violations of that right. The Supreme Court decided in light of this in Tanzin v. Tanvir (2020) that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act's express remedies provision permits litigants, when appropriate, to obtain money damages against federal officials in their individual capacities. This decision is significant "not only for the plaintiffs but also for cases involving violations of religious rights more broadly." In the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Lee (1982) (1982) the Court declared: "Congress and the courts have been sensitive to the needs flowing from the Free Exercise Clause, but every person cannot be shielded from all the burdens incident to exercising every aspect of the right to practice religious beliefs. When followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity." The Supreme Court in Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc. (1985) echoed this statement by quoting Judge Learned Hand from his 1953 case Otten v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 205 F.2d 58, 61 (CA2 1953): "The First Amendment ... gives no one the right to insist that, in pursuit of their own interests others must conform their conduct to his own religious necessities." In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014) the Supreme Court had to decide, with a view to the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, "the profound cultural question of whether a private, profit-making business organized as a corporation can "exercise" religion and, if it can, how far that is protected from government interference." The Court decided that closely held, for-profit corporations have free exercise rights under the RFRA, but its decision was not based on the constitutional protections of the First Amendment.
In Locke v. Davey (2004), the Court stated, "iven the historic and substantial state interest at issue, it cannot be concluded that the denial of funding for vocational religious instruction alone is inherently constitutionally suspect", explaining that denying funding a scholarship when it was going to be used for education in theology and when that state's constitution forbids state aid to religious institutions "was not presumptively unconstitutional, because the state was neither criminalizing nor penalizing the study of theology." The Court ruled therefore that a state has a "substantial state interest" in denying funding a scholarship when it was going to be used for education in theology and when that state's constitution forbids state aid to religious institutions. In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer (2017), the Court ruled that denying a generally available public benefit on account of the religious nature of an institution violates the Free Exercise Clause. In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020), the Court ruled that the Free Exercise Clause forbad a state from denying a tax credit on the basis of a Blaine Amendment in that state's constitution, which the Court said is subject to the "strictest scrutiny" and can only survive if it is "narrowly tailored" to promote "interests of the highest order". Citing Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association (1988) the Supreme Court decided in the Espinoza follow-up case Carson v. Makin (2022) that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment protects against “indirect coercion or penalties on the free exercise of religion, not just outright prohibitions.”
Freedom of speech and of the press
Further information: Freedom of speech in the United States and United States free speech exceptionsThe 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 means the right of individuals to express themselves through publication and dissemination of information, ideas, and opinions without interference, constraint, or prosecution by the government. In Murdock v. Pennsylvania (1943), the Supreme Court stated that "Freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion are in a preferred position". The Court added that a community may not suppress, or the state tax, the dissemination of views because they are unpopular, annoying, or distasteful. That would be a complete repudiation of the philosophy of the Bill of Rights, according to the Court. In Stanley v. Georgia (1969), the Supreme Court stated that the First Amendment protects the right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, and to be generally free from governmental intrusions into one's privacy and control of one's own thoughts.
The Supreme Court of the United States characterized the rights of free speech and free press as fundamental personal rights and liberties and noted that the exercise of these rights lies at the foundation of free government by free men. The Supreme Court stated in Thornhill v. Alabama (1940) that the freedom of speech and of the press guaranteed by the United States Constitution embraces at the least the liberty to discuss publicly and truthfully all matters of public concern, without previous restraint or fear of subsequent punishment. In Bond v. Floyd (1966), a case involving the Constitutional shield around the speech of elected officials, the Supreme Court declared that the First Amendment central commitment is that, in the words of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), "debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open". The Court further explained that just as erroneous statements must be protected to give freedom of expression the breathing space it needs to survive, so statements criticizing public policy and the implementation of it must be similarly protected. The Supreme Court in Chicago Police Dept. v. Mosley (1972) said:
But, above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content. ... To permit the continued building of our politics and culture, and to assure self-fulfillment for each individual, our people are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship. The essence of this forbidden censorship is content control. Any restriction on expressive activity because of its content would completely undercut the "profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open."
The level of protections with respect to free speech and free press given by the First Amendment is not limitless. As stated in his concurrence in Chicago Police Dept. v. Mosley (1972), Chief Justice Warren E. Burger said:
Numerous holdings of this Court attest to the fact that the First Amendment does not literally mean that we "are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship." This statement is subject to some qualifications, as for example those of Roth v. United States, 354 U. S. 476 (1957); Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U. S. 568 (1942). See also New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254 (1964).
Attached to the core rights of free speech and free press are several peripheral rights that make these core rights more secure. The peripheral rights encompass not only freedom of association, including privacy in one's associations, but also, in the words of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), "the freedom of the entire university community", i.e., the right to distribute, the right to receive, and the right to read, as well as freedom of inquiry, freedom of thought, and freedom to teach. The United States Constitution protects, according to the Supreme Court in Stanley v. Georgia (1969), the right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, and to be generally free from governmental intrusions into one's privacy and control of one's thoughts. As stated by the Court in Stanley: "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds."
Wording of the clause
The First Amendment bars Congress from "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens commented about this phraseology in a 1993 journal article: "I emphasize the word 'the' in the term 'the freedom of speech' because the definite article suggests that the draftsmen intended to immunize a previously identified category or subset of speech." Stevens said that, otherwise, the clause might absurdly immunize things like false testimony under oath. Like Stevens, journalist Anthony Lewis wrote: "The word 'the' can be read to mean what was understood at the time to be included in the concept of free speech." But what was understood at the time is not entirely clear. In the late 1790s, the lead author of the speech and press clauses, James Madison, argued against narrowing this freedom to what had existed under English common law:
The practice in America must be entitled to much more respect. In every state, probably, in the Union, the press has exerted a freedom in canvassing the merits and measures of public men, of every description, which has not been confined to the strict limits of the common law.
Madison wrote this in 1799, when he was in a dispute about the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Laws, which was legislation enacted in 1798 by President John Adams' Federalist Party to ban seditious libel. Madison believed that legislation to be unconstitutional, and his adversaries in that dispute, such as John Marshall, advocated the narrow freedom of speech that had existed in the English common law.
Speech critical of the government
The Supreme Court declined to rule on the constitutionality of any federal law regarding the Free Speech Clause until the 20th century. For example, the Supreme Court never ruled on the Alien and Sedition Acts; three Supreme Court justices riding circuit presided over sedition trials without indicating any reservations. The leading critics of the law, Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, argued for the Acts' unconstitutionality based on the First Amendment and other Constitutional provisions. Jefferson succeeded Adams as president, in part due to the unpopularity of the latter's sedition prosecutions; he and his party quickly overturned the Acts and pardoned those imprisoned by them. In the majority opinion in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), the Court noted the importance of this public debate as a precedent in First Amendment law and ruled that the Acts had been unconstitutional: "Although the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court, the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history."
World War I
Further information: Clear and present dangerDuring the patriotic fervor of World War I and the First Red Scare, the Espionage Act of 1917 imposed a maximum sentence of twenty years for anyone who caused or attempted to cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States". Specifically, the Espionage Act of 1917 states that if anyone allows any enemies to enter or fly over the United States and obtain information from a place connected with the national defense, they will be punished. Hundreds of prosecutions followed. In 1919, the Supreme Court heard four appeals resulting from these cases: Schenck v. United States, Debs v. United States, Frohwerk v. United States, and Abrams v. United States.
In the first of these cases, Socialist Party of America official Charles Schenck had been convicted under the Espionage Act for publishing leaflets urging resistance to the draft. Schenck appealed, arguing that the Espionage Act violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. In Schenck v. United States, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected Schenck's appeal and affirmed his conviction. Debate continued over whether Schenck went against the right to freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., writing for the Court, explained that "the question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." One week later, in Frohwerk v. United States, the court again upheld an Espionage Act conviction, this time that of a journalist who had criticized U.S. involvement in foreign wars.
In Debs v. United States, the Court elaborated on the "clear and present danger" test established in Schenck. On June 16, 1918, Eugene V. Debs, a political activist, delivered a speech in Canton, Ohio, in which he spoke of "most loyal comrades were paying the penalty to the working class—these being Wagenknecht, Baker and Ruthenberg, who had been convicted of aiding and abetting another in failing to register for the draft." Following his speech, Debs was charged and convicted under the Espionage Act. In upholding his conviction, the Court reasoned that although he had not spoken any words that posed a "clear and present danger", taken in context, the speech had a "natural tendency and a probable effect to obstruct the recruiting services". In Abrams v. United States, four Russian refugees appealed their conviction for throwing leaflets from a building in New York; the leaflets argued against President Woodrow Wilson's intervention in Russia against the October Revolution. The majority upheld their conviction, but Holmes and Justice Louis Brandeis dissented, holding that the government had demonstrated no "clear and present danger" in the four's political advocacy.
Extending protections
The Supreme Court denied a number of Free Speech Clause claims throughout the 1920s, including the appeal of a labor organizer, Benjamin Gitlow, who had been convicted after distributing a manifesto calling for a "revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat". In Gitlow v. New York (1925), the Court upheld the conviction, but a majority also found that the First Amendment applied to state laws as well as federal laws, via the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Holmes and Brandeis dissented in several more cases in this decade, however, advancing the argument that the Free Speech Clause protected a far greater range of political speech than the Court had previously acknowledged. In Whitney v. California (1927), in which Communist Party USA organizer Charlotte Anita Whitney had been arrested for "criminal syndicalism", Brandeis wrote a dissent in which he argued for broader protections for political speech:
Those who won our independence ... believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.
In Herndon v. Lowry (1937), the Court heard the case of African American Communist Party organizer Angelo Herndon, who had been convicted under the Slave Insurrection Statute for advocating black rule in the southern United States. The Court reversed Herndon's conviction, holding that Georgia had failed to demonstrate any "clear and present danger" in Herndon's political advocacy. The clear and present danger test was again invoked by the majority in the 1940 Thornhill v. Alabama decision in which a state antipicketing law was invalidated. The importance of freedom of speech in the context of "clear and present danger" was emphasized in Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949) where the Supreme Court noted that the vitality of civil and political institutions in society depends on free discussion. Democracy requires free speech because it is only through free debate and free exchange of ideas that government remains responsive to the will of the people and peaceful change is effected. Restrictions on free speech are only permissible when the speech at issue is likely to produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance, or unrest. Justice William O. Douglas wrote for the Court that "a function of free speech under our system is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger."
Although the Court referred to the clear and present danger test in a few decisions following Thornhill, the bad tendency test was not explicitly overruled, and the clear and present danger test was not applied in several subsequent free speech cases involving incitement to violence. In 1940, Congress enacted the Smith Act, making it illegal to advocate "the propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force and violence". The statute provided law enforcement a tool to combat Communist leaders. Eugene Dennis was convicted in the Foley Square trial for attempting to organize a Communist Party. In Dennis v. United States (1951), the Court upheld the Smith Act. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson relied on Holmes' "clear and present danger" test as adapted by Learned Hand: "In each case must ask whether the gravity of the 'evil', discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as necessary to avoid the danger." Clearly, Vinson suggested, clear and present danger did not intimate "that before the Government may act, it must wait until the putsch is about to be executed, the plans have been laid and the signal is awaited." In a concurring opinion, Justice Felix Frankfurter proposed a "balancing test", which soon supplanted the "clear and present danger" test:
The demands of free speech in a democratic society as well as the interest in national security are better served by candid and informed weighing of the competing interests, within the confines of the judicial process.
In Yates v. United States (1957), the Supreme Court limited the Smith Act prosecutions to "advocacy of action" rather than "advocacy in the realm of ideas". Advocacy of abstract doctrine remained protected while speech explicitly inciting the forcible overthrow of the government was punishable under the Smith Act.
During the Vietnam War, the Court's position on public criticism of the government changed drastically. Though the Court upheld a law prohibiting the forgery, mutilation, or destruction of draft cards in United States v. O'Brien (1968), fearing that burning draft cards would interfere with the "smooth and efficient functioning" of the draft system, the next year, the court handed down its decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), expressly overruling Whitney v. California. Brandenburg discarded the "clear and present danger" test introduced in Schenck and further eroded Dennis. Now the Supreme Court referred to the right to speak openly of violent action and revolution in broad terms:
decisions have fashioned the principle that the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not allow a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or cause such action.
In Cohen v. California (1971), the Court voted reversed the conviction of a man wearing a jacket reading "Fuck the Draft" in the corridors of a Los Angeles County courthouse. Justice John Marshall Harlan II wrote in the majority opinion that Cohen's jacket fell in the category of protected political speech despite the use of an expletive: "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric." In Matal v. Tam (2017) the Supreme Court noted that "the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment" contains "a bedrock First Amendment principle: Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend." The Court ruled that the government cannot ban expression merely because it is offensive. In the majority opinion, Justice Alito wrote:
Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express "the thought that we hate." United States v. Schwimmer, 279 U. S. 644, 655 (1929) (Holmes, J., dissenting).
A plurality opinion in Matal v. Tam (2017) affirmed the principle "that “the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers.” Street v. New York, 394 U. S. 576, 592 (1969)."
Political speech
The ability to publicly criticize even the most prominent politicians and leaders without fear of retaliation is part of the First Amendment, because political speech is core First Amendment speech. As the Supreme Court stated with respect to the judicial branch of the government exemplarily that the First Amendment prohibits "any law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ... It must be taken as a command of the broadest scope that explicit language, read in the context of a liberty-loving society, will allow. The assumption that respect for the judiciary can be won by shielding judges from published criticism wrongly appraises the character of American public opinion. For it is a prized American privilege to speak one's mind, although not always with perfect good taste, on all public institutions. And an enforced silence, however limited, solely in the name of preserving the dignity of the bench would probably engender resentment, suspicion, and contempt much more than it would enhance respect."
Anonymous speech
In Talley v. California (1960), the Court struck down a Los Angeles city ordinance that made it a crime to distribute anonymous pamphlets. Justice Hugo Black wrote in the majority opinion: "There can be no doubt that such an identification requirement would tend to restrict freedom to distribute information and thereby freedom of expression. ... Anonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind." In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995), the Court struck down an Ohio statute that made it a crime to distribute anonymous campaign literature. However, in Meese v. Keene (1987), the Court upheld the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, under which several Canadian films were defined as "political propaganda", requiring their sponsors to be identified.
Campaign finance
See also: Campaign finance reform in the United StatesIn Buckley v. Valeo (1976), the Supreme Court reviewed the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and related laws, which restricted the monetary contributions that may be made to political campaigns and expenditure by candidates. The Court affirmed the constitutionality of limits on campaign contributions, saying they "serve the basic governmental interest in safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process without directly impinging upon the rights of individual citizens and candidates to engage in political debate and discussion." However, the Court overturned the spending limits, which it found imposed "substantial restraints on the quantity of political speech".
The court again scrutinized campaign finance regulation in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003). The case centered on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), a federal law that imposed new restrictions on campaign financing. The Supreme Court upheld provisions which barred the raising of soft money by national parties and the use of soft money by private organizations to fund certain advertisements related to elections. However, the Court struck down the "choice of expenditure" rule, which required that parties could either make coordinated expenditures for all its candidates, or permit candidates to spend independently, but not both, which the Court agreed "placed an unconstitutional burden on the parties' right to make unlimited independent expenditures". The Court also ruled that the provision preventing minors from making political contributions was unconstitutional, relying on Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.
In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2007), the Court sustained an "as applied" challenge to BCRA, holding that issue ads may not be banned from the months preceding a primary or general election. In Davis v. Federal Election Commission (2008), the Supreme Court declared the "Millionaire's Amendment" provisions of the BCRA to be unconstitutional. The Court held that easing BCRA restrictions for an opponent of a self-financing candidate spending at least $350,000 of his or her own money violated the freedom of speech of the self-financing candidate.
In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), the Court ruled that the BCRA's federal restrictions on electoral advocacy by corporations or unions were unconstitutional for violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Court overruled Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990), which had upheld a state law that prohibited corporations from using treasury funds to support or oppose candidates in elections did not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments. The Court also overruled the portion of McConnell that upheld such restrictions under the BCRA. In other words, the ruling was considered to hold that "political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment".
In McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (2014), the Court ruled that federal aggregate limits on how much a person can donate to candidates, political parties, and political action committees, combined respectively in a two-year period known as an "election cycle", violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
Flag desecration
The divisive issue of flag desecration as a form of protest first came before the Supreme Court in Street v. New York (1969). In response to hearing an erroneous report of the murder of civil rights activist James Meredith, Sidney Street burned a 48-star U.S. flag. Street was arrested and charged with a New York state law making it a crime "publicly mutilate, deface, defile, or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt upon either by words or act ". The Court, relying on Stromberg v. California (1931), found that because the provision of the New York law criminalizing "words" against the flag was unconstitutional, and the trial did not sufficiently demonstrate he had been convicted solely under the provisions not yet deemed unconstitutional, the conviction was unconstitutional. The Court, however, "resist the pulls to decide the constitutional issues involved in this case on a broader basis" and left the constitutionality of flag-burning unaddressed.
The ambiguity with regard to flag-burning statutes was eliminated in Texas v. Johnson (1989). In that case, Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag at a demonstration during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas. Charged with violating a Texas law prohibiting the vandalizing of venerated objects, Johnson was convicted, sentenced to one year in prison, and fined $2,000. The Supreme Court reversed his conviction. Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote in the decision that "if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Congress then passed a federal law barring flag burning, but the Supreme Court struck it down as well in United States v. Eichman (1990). A Flag Desecration Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been proposed repeatedly in Congress since 1989, and in 2006 failed to pass the Senate by a single vote.
Falsifying military awards
While the unauthorized wear or sale of the Medal of Honor has been a punishable offense under federal law since the early twentieth century, the Stolen Valor Act criminalized the act of not only wearing, but also verbally claiming entitlement to military awards a person did not in fact earn. In United States v. Alvarez (2012), the Supreme Court struck down the Act, ruling that the First Amendment bars the government from punishing people for making false claims regarding military service or honors where the false claim was not "made to effect a fraud or secure moneys or other valuable considerations". The Supreme Court could not agree on a single rationale for its decision.
Compelled speech
Main article: Compelled speechThe Supreme Court has determined that the First Amendment also protects citizens from being compelled by the government to say or to pay for certain speech.
In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), the Court ruled that school children could not be punished for refusing either to say the pledge of allegiance or salute the American flag. The Court also overruled Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940), which had upheld such punishments of school children.
In National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra (2018), the Court ruled that a California law requiring crisis pregnancy centers to post notices informing patients they can obtain free or low-cost abortions and include the number of the state agency that can connect the women with abortion providers violated those centers' right to free speech.
In Janus v. AFSCME (2018), the Court ruled that requiring a public sector employee to pay dues to a union of which he is not a member violated the First Amendment. According to the Court, "the First Amendment does not permit the government to compel a person to pay for another party's speech just because the government thinks that the speech furthers the interests of the person who does not want to pay." The Court also overruled Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977), which had upheld legally obligating public sector employees to pay such dues.
Commercial speech
Main article: Commercial speechCommercial speech is speech done on behalf of a company or individual for the purpose of making a profit. Unlike political speech, the Supreme Court does not afford commercial speech full protection under the First Amendment. To effectively distinguish commercial speech from other types of speech for purposes of litigation, the Court uses a list of four indicia:
- The contents do "no more than propose a commercial transaction".
- The contents may be characterized as advertisements.
- The contents reference a specific product.
- The disseminator is economically motivated to distribute the speech.
Alone, each indicium does not compel the conclusion that an instance of speech is commercial; however, "he combination of all these characteristics ... provides strong support for ... the conclusion that the properly characterized as commercial speech."
In Valentine v. Chrestensen (1942), the Court upheld a New York City ordinance forbidding the "distribution in the streets of commercial and business advertising matter", ruling the First Amendment protection of free speech did not include commercial speech.
In Virginia State Pharmacy Board v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976), the Court overturned Valentine and ruled that commercial speech was entitled to First Amendment protection:
What is at issue is whether a State may completely suppress the dissemination of concededly truthful information about entirely lawful activity, fearful of that information's effect upon its disseminators and its recipients. ... e conclude that the answer to this one is in the negative.
In Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association (1978), the Court ruled that commercial speech was not protected by the First Amendment as much as other types of speech:
We have not discarded the 'common-sense' distinction between speech proposing a commercial transaction, which occurs in an area traditionally subject to government regulation, and other varieties of speech. To require a parity of constitutional protection for commercial and noncommercial speech alike could invite a dilution, simply by a leveling process, of the force of the Amendment's guarantee with respect to the latter kind of speech.
In Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission (1980), the Court clarified what analysis was required before the government could justify regulating commercial speech:
- Is the expression protected by the First Amendment? Lawful? Misleading? Fraud?
- Is the asserted government interest substantial?
- Does the regulation directly advance the governmental interest asserted?
- Is the regulation more extensive than is necessary to serve that interest?
Six years later, the U.S. Supreme Court, applying the Central Hudson standards in Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Company of Puerto Rico (1986), affirmed the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico's conclusion that Puerto Rico's Games of Chance Act of 1948, including the regulations thereunder, was not facially unconstitutional. The lax interpretation of Central Hudson adopted by Posadas was soon restricted under 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island (1996), when the Court invalidated a Rhode Island law prohibiting the publication of liquor prices.
School speech
Main article: Freedom of speech in schools in the United StatesIn Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Supreme Court extended free speech rights to students in school. The case involved several students who were punished for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. The Court ruled that the school could not restrict symbolic speech that did not "materially and substantially" interrupt school activities. Justice Abe Fortas wrote:
First Amendment rights, applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment, are available to teachers and students. It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. ... chools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students ... are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect their obligations to the State.
In Healy v. James (1972), the Court ruled that Central Connecticut State College's refusal to recognize a campus chapter of Students for a Democratic Society was unconstitutional, reaffirming Tinker.
However, since 1969 the Court has also placed several limitations on Tinker. In Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986), the Court ruled that a student could be punished for his sexual-innuendo-laced speech before a school assembly and, in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988), the Court found that schools need not tolerate student speech that is inconsistent with their basic educational mission. In Morse v. Frederick (2007), the Court ruled that schools could restrict student speech at school-sponsored events, even events away from school grounds, if students promote "illegal drug use".
In 2014, the University of Chicago released the "Chicago Statement", a free speech policy statement designed to combat censorship on campus. This statement was later adopted by a number of top-ranked universities including Princeton University, Washington University in St. Louis, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University.
Internet access
In Packingham v. North Carolina (2017), the Supreme Court held that a North Carolina law prohibiting registered sex offenders from accessing various websites impermissibly restricted lawful speech in violation of the First Amendment. The Court held that "a fundamental principle of the First Amendment is that all persons have access to places where they can speak and listen, and then, after reflection, speak and listen once more."
Obscenity
Further information: United States obscenity lawAccording to the U.S. Supreme Court, the First Amendment's protection of free speech does not apply to obscene speech. Therefore, both the federal government and the states have tried to prohibit or otherwise restrict obscene speech, in particular the form that is now called pornography. As of 2019, pornography, except for child pornography, is in practice free of governmental restrictions in the United States, though pornography about "extreme" sexual practices is occasionally prosecuted. The change in the twentieth century, from total prohibition in 1900 to near-total tolerance in 2000, reflects a series of court cases involving the definition of obscenity. The U.S. Supreme Court has found that most pornography is not obscene, a result of changing definitions of both obscenity and pornography. The legal tolerance also reflects changed social attitudes: one reason there are so few prosecutions for pornography is that juries will not convict.
In Rosen v. United States (1896), the Supreme Court adopted the same obscenity standard as had been articulated in a famous British case, Regina v. Hicklin (1868). The Hicklin test defined material as obscene if it tended "to deprave or corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall". In the early twentieth century, literary works including An American Tragedy (Theodore Dreiser, 1925) and Lady Chatterley's Lover (D.H. Lawrence, 1928) were banned for obscenity. In the federal district court case United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (1933), Judge John M. Woolsey established a new standard to evaluate James Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922), stating that works must be considered in their entirety, rather than declared obscene on the basis of an individual part of the work.
The Supreme Court ruled in Roth v. United States (1957) that the First Amendment did not protect obscenity. It also ruled that the Hicklin test was inappropriate; instead, the Roth test for obscenity was "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest". This definition proved hard to apply, however, and in the following decade, members of the Court often reviewed films individually in a court building screening room to determine if they should be considered obscene. Justice Potter Stewart, in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964), famously said that, although he could not precisely define pornography, "I know it when I see it".
The Roth test was expanded when the Court decided Miller v. California (1973). Under the Miller test, a work is obscene if:
(a) 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find the work, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest ... (b) ... the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (c) ... the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
"Community" standards—not national standards—are applied to determine whether allegedly obscene material appeals to the prurient interest and is patently offensive. By contrast, the question whether a work lacks serious value depends upon "whether a reasonable person would find such value in the material, taken as a whole."
Child pornography is not subject to the Miller test, as the Supreme Court decided in New York v. Ferber (1982) and Osborne v. Ohio (1990), ruling that the government's interest in protecting children from abuse was paramount.
Personal possession of obscene material in the home may not be prohibited by law. In Stanley v. Georgia (1969), the Court ruled that "f the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch." However, it is constitutionally permissible for the government to prevent the mailing or sale of obscene items, though they may be viewed only in private. Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) further upheld these rights by invalidating the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, holding that, because the act "rohibit child pornography that does not depict an actual child" (simulated child pornography) it was overly broad and unconstitutional under the First Amendment and:
First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.
In United States v. Williams (2008), the Court upheld the PROTECT Act of 2003, ruling that prohibiting offers to provide and requests to obtain child pornography did not violate the First Amendment, even if a person charged under the Act did not possess child pornography.
Memoirs of convicted criminals
In some states, there are Son of Sam laws prohibiting convicted criminals from publishing memoirs for profit. These laws were a response to offers to David Berkowitz to write memoirs about the murders he committed. The Supreme Court struck down a law of this type in New York as a violation of the First Amendment in the case Simon & Schuster v. Crime Victims Board (1991). That statute did not prohibit publication of a memoir by a convicted criminal. Instead, it provided that all profits from the book were to be put in escrow for a time. The interest from the escrow account was used to fund the New York State Crime Victims Board—an organization that pays the medical and related bills of victims of crime. Similar laws in other states remain unchallenged.
Defamation
Further information: United States defamation lawAmerican tort liability for defamatory speech or publications traces its origins to English common law. For the first two hundred years of American jurisprudence, the basic substance of defamation law continued to resemble that existing in England at the time of the Revolution. An 1898 American legal textbook on defamation provides definitions of libel and slander nearly identical to those given by William Blackstone and Edward Coke. An action of slander required the following:
- Actionable words, such as those imputing the injured party: is guilty of some offense, suffers from a contagious disease or psychological disorder, is unfit for public office because of moral failings or an inability to discharge his or her duties, or lacks integrity in profession, trade or business;
- That the charge must be false;
- That the charge must be articulated to a third person, verbally or in writing;
- That the words are not subject to legal protection, such as those uttered in Congress; and
- That the charge must be motivated by malice.
An action of libel required the same five general points as slander, except that it specifically involved the publication of defamatory statements. For certain criminal charges of libel, such as seditious libel, the truth or falsity of the statements was immaterial, as such laws were intended to maintain public support of the government and true statements could damage this support even more than false ones. Instead, libel placed specific emphasis on the result of the publication. Libelous publications tended to "degrade and injure another person" or "bring him into contempt, hatred or ridicule".
Concerns that defamation under common law might be incompatible with the new republican form of government caused early American courts to struggle between William Blackstone's argument that the punishment of "dangerous or offensive writings ... necessary for the preservation of peace and good order, of government and religion, the only solid foundations of civil liberty" and the argument that the need for a free press guaranteed by the Constitution outweighed the fear of what might be written. Consequently, very few changes were made in the first two centuries after the ratification of the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court's ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) fundamentally changed American defamation law. The case redefined the type of "malice" needed to sustain a libel case. Common law malice consisted of "ill-will" or "wickedness". Now, a public officials seeking to sustain a civil action against a tortfeasor needed to prove by "clear and convincing evidence" that there was actual malice. The case involved an advertisement published in The New York Times indicating that officials in Montgomery, Alabama had acted violently in suppressing the protests of African-Americans during the civil rights movement. The Montgomery Police Commissioner, L. B. Sullivan, sued the Times for libel, saying the advertisement damaged his reputation. The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the $500,000 judgment against the Times. Justice Brennan suggested that public officials may sue for libel only if the statements in question were published with "actual malice"—"knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not". In sum, the court held that "the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials except when statements are made with actual malice (with knowledge that they are false or in reckless disregard of their truth or falsity)."
While actual malice standard applies to public officials and public figures, in Philadelphia Newspapers v. Hepps (1988), the Court found that, with regard to private individuals, the First Amendment does "not necessarily force any change in at least some features of the common-law landscape". In Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. (1985) the Court ruled that "actual malice" need not be shown in cases involving private individuals, holding that "n light of the reduced constitutional value of speech involving no matters of public concern ... the state interest adequately supports awards of presumed and punitive damages—even absent a showing of 'actual malice'." In Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974), the Court ruled that a private individual had to prove malice only to be awarded punitive damages, not actual damages. In Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988), the Court extended the "actual malice" standard to intentional infliction of emotional distress in a ruling which protected parody, in this case a fake advertisement in Hustler suggesting that evangelist Jerry Falwell's first sexual experience had been with his mother in an outhouse. Since Falwell was a public figure, the Court ruled that "importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern" was the paramount concern, and reversed the judgement Falwell had won against Hustler for emotional distress.
In Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. (1990), the Court ruled that the First Amendment offers no wholesale exception to defamation law for statements labeled "opinion", but instead that a statement must be provably false (falsifiable) before it can be the subject of a libel suit. Nonetheless, it has been argued that Milkovich and other cases effectively provide for an opinion privilege.
Private action
Despite the common misconception that the First Amendment prohibits anyone from limiting free speech, the text of the amendment prohibits only the federal government, the states and local governments from doing so.
State constitutions provide free speech protections similar to those of the U.S. Constitution. In a few states, such as California, a state constitution has been interpreted as providing more comprehensive protections than the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has permitted states to extend such enhanced protections, most notably in Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins. In that case, the Court unanimously ruled that while the First Amendment may allow private property owners to prohibit trespass by political speakers and petition-gatherers, California was permitted to restrict property owners whose property is equivalent to a traditional public forum (often shopping malls and grocery stores) from enforcing their private property rights to exclude such individuals. However, the Court did maintain that shopping centers could impose "reasonable restrictions on expressive activity". Subsequently, New Jersey, Colorado, Massachusetts and Puerto Rico courts have adopted the doctrine; California's courts have repeatedly reaffirmed it.
Freedom of the press
Further information: Freedom of the press in the United StatesThe free speech and free press clauses have been interpreted as providing the same protection to speakers as to writers, except for radio and television wireless broadcasting which have, for historical reasons, been given less constitutional protections. The Free Press Clause protects the right of individuals to express themselves through publication and dissemination of information, ideas and opinions without interference, constraint or prosecution by the government. This right was described in Branzburg v. Hayes as "a fundamental personal right" that is not confined to newspapers and periodicals, but also embraces pamphlets and leaflets. In Lovell v. City of Griffin (1938), Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes defined "press" as "every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion". This right has been extended to media including newspapers, books, plays, movies, and video games. While it is an open question whether people who blog or use social media are journalists entitled to protection by media shield laws, they are protected equally by the Free Speech Clause and the Free Press Clause, because both clauses do not distinguish between media businesses and nonprofessional speakers. This is further shown by the Supreme Court consistently refusing to recognize the First Amendment as providing greater protection to the institutional media than to other speakers. For example, in a case involving campaign finance laws the Court rejected the "suggestion that communication by corporate members of the institutional press is entitled to greater constitutional protection than the same communication by" non-institutional-press businesses. Justice Felix Frankfurter stated in a concurring opinion in another case succinctly: "he purpose of the Constitution was not to erect the press into a privileged institution but to protect all persons in their right to print what they will as well as to utter it." In Mills v. Alabama (1943) the Supreme Court laid out the purpose of the free press clause:
Whatever differences may exist about interpretations of the First Amendment, there is practically universal agreement that a major purpose of that Amendment was to protect the free discussion of governmental affairs. This, of course, includes discussions of candidates, structures and forms of government, the manner in which government is operated or should be operated, and all such matters relating to political processes. The Constitution specifically selected the press, which includes not only newspapers, books, and magazines, but also humble leaflets and circulars, see Lovell v. Griffin, 303 U. S. 444, to play an important role in the discussion of public affairs. Thus, the press serves and was designed to serve as a powerful antidote to any abuses of power by governmental officials, and as a constitutionally chosen means for keeping officials elected by the people responsible to all the people whom they were selected to serve. Suppression of the right of the press to praise or criticize governmental agents and to clamor and contend for or against change, which is all that this editorial did, muzzles one of the very agencies the Framers of our Constitution thoughtfully and deliberately selected to improve our society and keep it free.
A landmark decision for press freedom came in Near v. Minnesota (1931), in which the Supreme Court rejected prior restraint (pre-publication censorship). In this case, the Minnesota legislature passed a statute allowing courts to shut down "malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspapers", allowing a defense of truth only in cases where the truth had been told "with good motives and for justifiable ends". The Court applied the Free Press Clause to the states, rejecting the statute as unconstitutional. Hughes quoted Madison in the majority decision, writing, "The impairment of the fundamental security of life and property by criminal alliances and official neglect emphasizes the primary need of a vigilant and courageous press."
However, Near also noted an exception, allowing prior restraint in cases such as "publication of sailing dates of transports or the number or location of troops". This exception was a key point in another landmark case four decades later: New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), in which the administration of President Richard Nixon sought to ban the publication of the Pentagon Papers, classified government documents about the Vietnam War secretly copied by analyst Daniel Ellsberg. The Court found that the Nixon administration had not met the heavy burden of proof required for prior restraint. Justice Brennan, drawing on Near in a concurrent opinion, wrote that "only governmental allegation and proof that publication must inevitably, directly, and immediately cause the occurrence of an evil kindred to imperiling the safety of a transport already at sea can support even the issuance of an interim restraining order." Justices Black and Douglas went still further, writing that prior restraints were never justified.
The courts have rarely treated content-based regulation of journalism with any sympathy. In Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974), the Court unanimously struck down a state law requiring newspapers criticizing political candidates to publish their responses. The state claimed the law had been passed to ensure journalistic responsibility. The Supreme Court found that freedom, but not responsibility, is mandated by the First Amendment and so it ruled that the government may not force newspapers to publish that which they do not desire to publish.
Content-based regulation of television and radio, however, have been sustained by the Supreme Court in various cases. Since there is a limited number of frequencies for non-cable television and radio stations, the government licenses them to various companies. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the problem of scarcity does not allow the raising of a First Amendment issue. The government may restrain broadcasters, but only on a content-neutral basis. In Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, the Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission's authority to restrict the use of "indecent" material in broadcasting.
State governments retain the right to tax newspapers, just as they may tax other commercial products. Generally, however, taxes that focus exclusively on newspapers have been found unconstitutional. In Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936), the Court invalidated a state tax on newspaper advertising revenues, holding that the role of the press in creating "informed public opinion" was vital. Similarly, some taxes that give preferential treatment to the press have been struck down. In Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland (1987), for instance, the Court invalidated an Arkansas law exempting "religious, professional, trade and sports journals" from taxation since the law amounted to the regulation of newspaper content. In Leathers v. Medlock (1991), the Supreme Court found that states may treat different types of the media differently, such as by taxing cable television, but not newspapers. The Court found that "differential taxation of speakers, even members of the press, does not implicate the First Amendment unless the tax is directed at, or presents the danger of suppressing, particular ideas."
In Branzburg v. Hayes (1972), the Court ruled that the First Amendment did not give a journalist the right to refuse a subpoena from a grand jury. The issue decided in the case was whether a journalist could refuse to "appear and testify before state and Federal grand juries" basing the refusal on the belief that such appearance and testimony "abridges the freedom of speech and press guaranteed by the First Amendment". The decision was that such a protection was not provided by the First Amendment. However, a concurring opinion by Justice Lewis F. Powell, in which he said a claim for press privilege "should be judged on its facts by the striking of a proper balance between freedom of the press and the obligation of all citizens to give relevant testimony with respect to criminal conduct. The balance of these vital constitutional and societal interests on a case-by-case basis accords with the tried and traditional way of adjudicating such questions," has been frequently cited by lower courts since the decision.
Petition and assembly
Further information: Right to petition in the United States and Freedom of assemblyThe Petition Clause protects the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances". The right expanded over the years: "It is no longer confined to demands for 'a redress of grievances', in any accurate meaning of these words, but comprehends demands for an exercise by the government of its powers in furtherance of the interest and prosperity of the petitioners and of their views on politically contentious matters." The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances therefore includes the right to communicate with government officials, lobbying government officials and petitioning the courts by filing lawsuits with a legal basis. The Petition Clause first came to prominence in the 1830s, when Congress established the gag rule barring anti-slavery petitions from being heard; the rule was overturned by Congress several years later. Petitions against the Espionage Act of 1917 resulted in imprisonments. The Supreme Court did not rule on either issue.
In California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited (1972), the Supreme Court said the right to petition encompasses "the approach of citizens or groups of them to administrative agencies (which are both creatures of the legislature, and arms of the executive) and to courts, the third branch of Government. Certainly the right to petition extends to all departments of the Government. The right of access to the courts is indeed but one aspect of the right of petition." Today, thus, this right encompasses petitions to all three branches of the federal government—the Congress, the executive and the judiciary—and has been extended to the states through incorporation. According to the Supreme Court, "redress of grievances" is to be construed broadly: it includes not solely appeals by the public to the government for the redressing of a grievance in the traditional sense, but also, petitions on behalf of private interests seeking personal gain. The right protects not only demands for "a redress of grievances" but also demands for government action. The petition clause includes according to the Supreme Court the opportunity to institute non-frivolous lawsuits and mobilize popular support to change existing laws in a peaceful manner.
In Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri (2011), the Supreme Court stated regarding the Free Speech Clause and the Petition Clause:
It is not necessary to say that the two Clauses are identical in their mandate or their purpose and effect to acknowledge that the rights of speech and petition share substantial common ground ... Both speech and petition are integral to the democratic process, although not necessarily in the same way. The right to petition allows citizens to express their ideas, hopes, and concerns to their government and their elected representatives, whereas the right to speak fosters the public exchange of ideas that is integral to deliberative democracy as well as to the whole realm of ideas and human affairs. Beyond the political sphere, both speech and petition advance personal expression, although the right to petition is generally concerned with expression directed to the government seeking redress of a grievance.
The right of assembly is the individual right of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their collective or shared ideas. This right is equally important as those of free speech and free press, because, as observed by the Supreme Court of the United States in De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353, 364, 365 (1937), the right of peaceable assembly is "cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental ... is one that cannot be denied without violating those fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all civil and political institutions—principles which the Fourteenth Amendment embodies in the general terms of its due process clause ... The holding of meetings for peaceable political action cannot be proscribed. Those who assist in the conduct of such meetings cannot be branded as criminals on that score. The question ... is not as to the auspices under which the meeting is held but as to its purpose; not as to the relations of the speakers, but whether their utterances transcend the bounds of the freedom of speech which the Constitution protects." The right of peaceable assembly was originally distinguished from the right to petition. In United States v. Cruikshank (1875), the first case in which the right to assembly was before the Supreme Court, the court broadly declared the outlines of the right of assembly and its connection to the right of petition:
The right of the people peaceably to assemble for the purpose of petitioning Congress for a redress of grievances, or for anything else connected with the powers or duties of the National Government, is an attribute of national citizenship, and, as such, under protection of, and guaranteed by, the United States. The very idea of a government, republican in form, implies a right on the part of its citizens to meet peaceably for consultation in respect to public affairs and to petition for a redress of grievances.
Justice Morrison Waite's opinion for the Court carefully distinguished the right to peaceably assemble as a secondary right, while the right to petition was labeled to be a primary right. Later cases, however, paid less attention to these distinctions. An example for this is Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization (1939), where it was decided that the freedom of assembly covered by the First Amendment applies to public forums like streets and parks. In Hague the right of assembly was given a broad meaning, because the right of assembly can be used "for communication of views on national questions" as well as for "holding meetings and disseminating information whether for the organization of labor unions or for any other lawful purpose." In two 1960s decisions collectively known as forming the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, the Court established that the right to petition prohibited the application of antitrust law to statements made by private entities before public bodies: a monopolist may freely go before the city council and encourage the denial of its competitor's building permit without being subject to Sherman Act liability.
Freedom of association
Further information: Freedom of association § United States ConstitutionAlthough the First Amendment does not explicitly mention freedom of association, the Supreme Court ruled, in NAACP v. Alabama (1958), that this freedom was protected by the amendment and that privacy of membership was an essential part of this freedom. In Roberts v. United States Jaycees (1984), the Court stated that "implicit in the right to engage in activities protected by the First Amendment" is "a corresponding right to associate with others in pursuit of a wide variety of political, social, economic, educational, religious, and cultural ends". In Roberts the Court held that associations may not exclude people for reasons unrelated to the group's expression, such as gender.
However, in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995), the Court ruled that a group may exclude people from membership if their presence would affect the group's ability to advocate a particular point of view. Likewise, in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), the Court ruled that a New Jersey law, which forced the Boy Scouts of America to admit an openly gay member, to be an unconstitutional abridgment of the Boy Scouts' right to free association.
In Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021), the Court ruled that California's requiring disclosure of the identities of nonprofit companies' big-money donors did not serve a narrowly tailored government interest and, thus, violated those donors' First Amendment rights.
See also
- Censorship in the United States
- First Amendment audits
- Free speech zone
- Freedom of speech
- Government speech
- List of amendments to the United States Constitution
- List of United States Supreme Court cases involving the First Amendment
- Marketplace of ideas
- Military expression
- Photography Is Not a Crime
- Section 116 of the Constitution of Australia
- United States Postal Service
- United States free speech exceptions
- Williamsburg Charter
- Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Explanatory notes
- See for the topic First Amendment and state actor exemplarily the 2019 United States Supreme Court case Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, No. 17-1702, 587 U.S. ___ (2019).
- Writing for a unanimous Court in Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 303 (1940), Justice Roberts explained: "We hold that the statute, as construed and applied to the appellants, deprives them of their liberty without due process of law in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment. The fundamental concept of liberty embodied in that Amendment embraces the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment. The First Amendment declares that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Fourteenth Amendment has rendered the legislatures of the states as incompetent as Congress to enact such laws. The constitutional inhibition of legislation on the subject of religion has a double aspect. On the one hand, it forestalls compulsion by law of the acceptance of any creed or the practice of any form of worship. Freedom of conscience and freedom to adhere to such religious organization or form of worship as the individual may choose cannot be restricted by law. On the other hand, it safeguards the free exercise of the chosen form of religion."
- "Enlarging on this theme, THE CHIEF JUSTICE recently wrote: "We begin with the proposition that the right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment against state action includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all. See West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U. S. 624, 319 U. S. 633–634 (1943); id. at 319 U. S. 645 (Murphy, J., concurring). A system which secures the right to proselytize religious, political, and ideological causes must also guarantee the concomitant right to decline to foster such concepts. The right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of the broader concept of 'individual freedom of mind.' Id. at 319 U. S. 637.""
- The quote from Justice William O. Douglas comes from his majority opinion in Zorach v. Clauson (1952). This case centered on a program by the state of New York which allowed children to leave school during school hours to receive religious instruction outside the school. In upholding the New York program Justice Douglas stated: "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being. We guarantee the freedom to worship as one chooses. We make room for as wide a variety of beliefs and creeds as the spiritual needs of man deem necessary. We sponsor an attitude on the part of government that shows no partiality to any one group and that lets each flourish according to the zeal of its adherents and the appeal of its dogma. When the state encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe. Government may not finance religious groups nor undertake religious instruction nor blend secular and sectarian education nor use secular institutions to force one or some religion on any person. But we find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence. The government must be neutral when it comes to competition between sects. It may not thrust any sect on any person. It may not make a religious observance compulsory. It may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take religious instruction. But it can close its doors or suspend its operations as to those who want to repair to their religious sanctuary for worship or instruction."
- Burger explained the term "benevolent neutrality" with respect to the interplay of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause in this way in Walz: "The course of constitutionality neutrality in this area cannot be an absolutely straight line; rigidity could well defeat the basic purpose of these provisions, which is to insure that no religion be sponsored or favored, none commanded, and none inhibited. The general principle deducible from the First Amendment and all that has been said by the Court is this: that we will not tolerate either governmentally established religion or governmental interference with religion. Short of those expressly proscribed governmental acts there is room for play in the joints productive of a benevolent neutrality which will permit religious exercise to exist without sponsorship and without interference."
- The inofficial, non-binding Syllabus for Employment Division v. Smith states: "Although a State would be "prohibiting the free exercise " in violation of the Clause if it sought to ban the performance of (or abstention from) physical acts solely because of their religious motivation, the Clause does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a law that incidentally forbids (or requires) the performance of an act that his religious belief requires (or forbids) if the law is not specifically directed to religious practice and is otherwise constitutional as applied to those who engage in the specified act for nonreligious reasons. See, e.g., Reynolds v. United States, 98 U. S. 145, 98 U. S. 166–167. The only decisions in which this Court has held that the First Amendment bars application of a neutral, generally applicable law to religiously motivated action are distinguished on the ground that they involved not the Free Exercise Clause alone, but that Clause in conjunction with other constitutional protections. See, e.g., Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 310 U. S. 304–307; Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U. S. 205. Pp. 494 U. S. 876–882."
- Justice Tom C. Clark did not participate because he had ordered the prosecutions when he was Attorney General.
- See Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 193 (1977) (holding that in plurality opinions, the narrowest concurring opinion is the controlling opinion). In plurality opinions, a majority of Justices agree upon the proper disposition of the case, but “no single rationale explaining the result enjoys the assent of five justices.”
- Eastern Railroad presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc (1961) and United Mine Workers v. Pennington (1965)
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Today, the religious roots of the American order and the role of religion in its continued success are poorly understood. One source of the confusion is the phrase "separation of church and state," a phrase used by President Thomas Jefferson in a widely misunderstood letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut in 1802. Many think this means a radical separation of religion and politics. Some have gone so far as to suggest that religion should be entirely personal and private, kept out of public life and institutions like public schools. That is incorrect: Jefferson wanted to protect states' freedom of religion from federal government control and religious groups' freedom to tend to their internal matters of faith and practice without government interference generally. Unfortunately, Jefferson's phrase is probably more widely known than the actual text of the Constitution's First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
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- ^ "In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect "a wall of separation between church and State". from the Everson decision
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- For the Endorsement test see Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984).
- For the coercion test see Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992).
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Accommodationists, on the other hand, read the establishment clause as prohibiting Congress from declaring a national religion or preferring one to another, but laws do not have to be shorn of morality and history to be declared constitutional. They apply Lemon only selectively because 'e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being' as Justice Douglas wrote in Zorach v. Clauson 343 U.S. 306 (1952).
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First Amendment Politics: At the risk of oversimplifying a very complicated situation, I suggest that conservative justices tend to favor a weak reading of both the Free Exercise and Establishment clause, while liberals tend to favor strong readings. That is, conservative justices have been less concerned about the dangers of establishment and less concerned to protect free exercise rights, particularly of religious minorities. Liberals, by contrast, have been opposed to any possibility of a religious establishment and they have been relatively more concerned to protect the free exercise rights of minorities.
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Conservatives claim that liberals misinterpret the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment. They point to the opinion written for the Supreme Court by Hugo Black in Everson v. Board of Education: "The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: neither a state nor a Federal government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another." The establishment clause, conservatives insist, precludes the national state from promoting any religious denomination but does not prohibit state governments and local communities from developing policies that encourage general religious beliefs that do not favor a particular sect and are consistent with the secular government's goals.
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The free exercise of religion means, first and foremost, the right to believe and profess whatever religious doctrine one desires. Thus, the First Amendment obviously excludes all "governmental regulation of religious beliefs as such." Sherbert v. Verner supra, 374 U.S. at 374 U. S. 402. The government may not compel affirmation of religious belief, see Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U. S. 488 (1961), punish the expression of religious doctrines it believes to be false, United States v. Ballard, 322 U. S. 78, 322 U. S. 86–88 (1944), impose special disabilities on the basis of religious views or religious status, see McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U. S. 618 (1978); Fowler v. Rhode Island, 345 U. S. 67, 345 U. S. 69 (1953); cf. Larson v. Valente, 456 U. S. 228, 456 U. S. 245 (1982), or lend its power to one or the other side in controversies over religious authority or dogma, see Presbyterian Church v. Hull Church, 393 U. S. 440, 393 U. S. 445–452 (1969); Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, 344 U. S. 94, 344 U. S. 95–119 (1952); Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 426 U. S. 696, 426 U. S. 708–725 (1976).
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In McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U. S. 618 (1978), for example, we invalidated a state law that disqualified members of the clergy from holding certain public offices, because it "impose special disabilities on the basis of ... religious status," Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S., at 877. ... The Free Exercise Clause "protect religious observers against unequal treatment," Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla., 480 U. S. 136, 148 (1987) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment), and inequality results when a legislature decides that the governmental interests it seeks to advance are worthy of being pursued only against conduct with a religious motivation.
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It is important to note that the First Amendment applies to many expressions, including verbal and non-verbal communication, written communication, sign language, body language, facial expressions, gestures, symbols, and images. This means that the First Amendment protects not just what we say but also how we express ourselves.
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- Abrams 2006, pp. 65–66.
- Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
- Schenck, at 52
- ^ Jasper 1999, p. 23.
- Stone, Geoffrey R. (2004). Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-393-05880-2.
- Debs v. United States, 249 U.S. 211 (1919)
- Debs, at 213
- Debs, at 216
- Lewis 2007, p. 27.
- Lewis 2007, p. 108.
- Jasper 1999, p. 24.
- Lewis 2007, pp. 34–35.
- Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
- Lewis 2007, p. 36.
- Jasper 1999, p. 26.
- ^
- Killian, Johnny H.; Costello, George; Thomas, Kenneth R., The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, Library of Congress, Government Printing Office, 2005, ISBN 978-0160723797, pp. 1096, 1100.
- Currie, David P., The Constitution in the Supreme Court: The Second Century, 1888–1986, Volume 2, University of Chicago Press, 1994, p. 269, ISBN 9780226131122.
- Konvitz, Milton Ridvad, Fundamental Liberties of a Free People: Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Transaction Publishers, 2003, p. 304, ISBN 9780765809544.
- Eastland, Terry, Freedom of Expression in the Supreme Court: The Defining Cases, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 16. August 2000, p. 47 ISBN 978-0847697113.
- The Court adopted the imminent lawless action test in 1969's Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), which some commentators view as a modified version of the clear and present danger test.
- Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U.S. 88 (1940).
- Terminiello v. City of Chicago 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
- ^ Terminiello, at 4
- Including Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940): "When clear and present danger of riot, disorder, interference with traffic upon the public streets, or other immediate threat to public safety, peace, or order appears, the power of the State to prevent or punish is obvious ... we think that, in the absence of a statute narrowly drawn to define and punish specific conduct as constituting a clear and present danger to a substantial interest of the State, the petitioner's communication, considered in the light of the constitutional guarantees, raised no such clear and present menace to public peace and order as to render him liable to conviction of the common law offense in question."
And Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252 (1941): "And, very recently we have also suggested that 'clear and present danger' is an appropriate guide in determining the constitutionality of restrictions upon expression ... What finally emerges from the 'clear and present danger' cases is a working principle that the substantive evil must be extremely serious, and the degree of imminence extremely high, before utterances can be punished." - Antieu, Chester James, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, Wm. S. Hein Publishing, 1998, p 219, ISBN 9781575884431. Antieu names Feiner v. New York, 340 U.S. 315 (1951); Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire 315 U.S. 568 (1942); and Kovacs v. Cooper, 335 U.S. 77 (1949).
- 18 U.S.C. § 2385
- Dennis, at 497
- Dennis v. United States 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
- ^ Jasper 1999, p. 28.
- Dennis, at 510
- Dennis, at 509
- Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298 (1957)
- Jasper 1999, p. 29.
- United States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
- 50a U.S.C. § 462
- O'Brien, at 379
- Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969)
- Jasper 1999, p. 32.
- Brandenburg, at 450–1
- Lewis 2007, p. 124.
- Brandenburg, at 447
- Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971)
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- Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).
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- See Part III of the Opinion of the Court in Citizens United
- "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission", SCOTUSblog, n.d. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
- McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, 572 U.S. 185 (2014)
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- Street v. New York, 394 U.S. 576 (1969).
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- Street, 394 U.S. at 581.
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- Jury nullification:
- "Federal Judge Advocates Jury Nullification After Being Shocked by Overzealous Child Pornography Prosecution". reason.com. June 11, 2016.
- "Mandatory minimum drives US District Judge to countenance arguments for jury nullification in federal child porn case". entencing.typepad.com. November 6, 2018.
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- Regina v. Hicklin, L. R. 3 Q. B. 360
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- Miller, at 39
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- Ferber, at 761
- Jasper 1999, p. 51.
- Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969)
- Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002)
- Free Speech Coalition, at 240
- Free Speech Coalition, at 253
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- Newell 1898, pp. 37–41.
- ^ Newell 1898, pp. 33–37.
- ^ Nelson 1994, p. 93.
- Sullivan at 280
- Jasper 1999, pp. 9–10.
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- Westmoreland v. CBS, 596 F. Supp. 363 (S.D. N.Y. 1984)
- Philadelphia Newspapers v. Hepps, 475 U.S. 767 (1988)
- Hepps at 775
- Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
- Greenmoss at 761
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- Esward M. Sussman, Milkovich revisited: "Saving" the Opinion Privilege, Duke Law Journal, pp. 415–48
- Willingham, AJ (September 6, 2018). "The First Amendment doesn't guarantee you the rights you think it does". CNN. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
- Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins, 447 U.S. 74 (1980)
- Sisk, Gregory C. (January 1, 2009). "Returning to the PruneYard: the unconstitutionality of state-sanctioned trespass in the name of speech". Harvard Journal of Law and Public Property.
- Pruneyard, at 94
- Mulligan, Josh (2004). "Finding A Forum in the Simulated City: Mega Malls, Gated Towns, and the Promise of Pruneyard". Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. 13: 533, 557. ISSN 1069-0565.
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- Golden Gateway Ctr. v. Golden Gateway Tenants Ass'n, 26 Cal. 4th 1013 (2001); Costco Companies, Inc. v. Gallant, 96 Cal. App. 4th 740 (2002); Fashion Valley Mall, LLC, v. National Labor Relations Board, 42 Cal. 4th 850 (2007)
- Volokh, Eugene. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p. 409 (Forte and Spalding, eds., The Heritage Foundation 2014).
- 408 U.S. 665 (1972), at 704.
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- Lovell, at 452
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- ^ Eugene Volokh (January 8, 2014). "First Amendment (United States Constitution)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- See Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001) where the U.S. Supreme Court "draw no distinction between the media respondents and" a non-institutional respondent.
- See Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., 501 U.S. 663 (1991) where the U.S. Supreme Court held that the press gets no special immunity from laws that apply to others, including those—such as copyright law—that target communication.
- See also Henry v. Collins, 380 U.S. 356, 357 (1965) (per curiam) (applying Sullivan standard to a statement by an arrestee); Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64, 67–68 (1964) (applying Sullivan standard to statements by an elected district attorney); New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. at 286 (applying identical First Amendment protection to a newspaper defendant and individual defendants).
- First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
- "Pennekamp v. Florida, 328 U.S. 331 (1946), at 364. Concurring opinion by Felix Frankfurter". Justia US Supreme Court Center. June 3, 1946. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- "Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214 (1966), at 218-219". Justia US Supreme Court Center. May 23, 1966. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
- Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931)
- Lewis 2007, p. 43.
- Lewis 2007, pp. 44–45.
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- Lewis 2007, p. 46.
- Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland, 481 U.S. 221 (1987)
- Leathers v. Medlock, 499 U.S. 439 (1991)
- Leathers, at 453
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- California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508 (1972). This article incorporates public domain material from this U.S government document.
- California Motor Transport Co., 404 U.S. at 510.
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- Jeremy McBride, Freedom of Association, in The Essentials of ... Human Rights, Hodder Arnold, London, 2005, pp. 18–20
- United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1875)
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General and cited references
- Abrams, Floyd (April 4, 2006). Speaking freely. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-303675-3. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- Beeman, Richard (2009). Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution. Random House. ISBN 978-1-58836-726-6. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- Jasper, Margaret C. (1999). The Law of Speech and the First Amendment. Oceana Publications. ISBN 978-0-379-11335-8. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- Nelson, William Edward (1994). Americanization of the Common Law: The Impact of Legal Change on Massachusetts Society, 1760-1830. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-1587-4. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- Newell, Martin L. (1898). The Law of Libel and Slander in Civil and Criminal Cases: As Administered in the Courts of the United States of America. Callaghan. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01819-2.
Further reading
- Curtis, Michael Kent (2000). Free Speech, "The People's Darling Privilege": Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American History. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822325292.
- Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall. The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings on Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations in the American Founding. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund Press, 2009.
- Daniel L. Dreisbach, Mark David Hall, and Jeffry Morrison. The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009.
- Thomas I. Emerson, "Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment", Yale Law Journal, vol. 72, no. 5 (1963), pp. 877–956. doi:10.2307/794655. JSTOR 794655.
- Godwin, Mike (2003). Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age. MIT Press. ISBN 0262571684.
- Peter Irons, A People's History of the Supreme Court. New York: Penguin, 1999.
- McLeod, Kembrew (2007). Freedom of Expression: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property. foreword by Lawrence Lessig. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0816650316.
- Kabala, James S., Church-State Relations in the Early American Republic, 1787–1846. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2013.
- Johnny Killian and George Costello (eds.) (2000). The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation,. Current version Archived April 9, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
- Nicholas P. Miller, The Religious Roots of the First Amendment: Dissenting Protestants and the Separation of Church and State. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
- Nelson, Samuel P. (2005). Beyond the First Amendment: The Politics of Free Speech and Pluralism. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801881730.
External links
Listen to this article (36 minutes) This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 30 June 2006 (2006-06-30), and does not reflect subsequent edits.(Audio help · More spoken articles)- Cornell Law School—Annotated Constitution
- First Amendment Center—The First Amendment Library at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived October 16, 2004)
- Ruane, Kathleen Anne (September 8, 2014). "Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment" (PDF). Legislative Attorney. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- Cohen, Henry (October 16, 2009). "Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 8, 2010. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- "Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2005. – Updated May 24, 2005
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