The title of Irving Berlin’s song “God Bless America” has become a standard phrase ending presidential speeches. Berlin wrote the song during World War II and it was popularized by Kate Smith in 1938. The first modern president who used the words at the end of a speech was President Richard Nixon, who did so somewhat

The 1797 Treaty of Tripoli has been used by some to counter arguments that
the United States is a “Christian nation.” The treaty, aimed to protect
American ships from the Muslim Barbary pirates, assures that the United
States was not founded upon Christianity.

A Florida court said 2 Live Crew’s rap lyrics were obscene, but a circuit
court reversed the decision, saying the music was protected by the First
Amendment.

A. Mitchell Palmer directed the “Palmer raids,” a series of roundups of
thousands of radicals suspected of communist subversion. The raids violated
First Amendment liberties.

Aaron Caplan is a First Amendment scholar who has focused on Internet free
speech cases and has litigated for the ACLU. He teaches at Loyola Law
School.

Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas wrote several influential First Amendment
opinions, including Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School
District (1969).

Before the Civil War, pro-slavery legislators attempted to squelch
anti-slavery speech and writing through gag rules and other anti-First
Amendment measures.

The competing right under Roe v. Wade of women’s access to abortion clinics
must be balanced against the First Amendment rights of abortion protesters.

The rights to privacy and First Amendment freedom of religion have been
raised as constitutional protections for a woman’s right to have an
abortion. But the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed in 2022 when it overturned
precedent linking these rights and upholding a Mississippi law banning
abortion.

Though revered by history, Abraham Lincoln has been criticized for his
restrictions on civil liberties during the Civil War, including First
Amendment freedoms. People expressing pro-Confederate sentiments were
arrested, and the Chicago Times newspaper was shuttered for criticizing
Lincoln’s administration.

Absolutists believe that the First Amendment means that state and federal
governments may pass no laws abridging the rights of religion, speech,
press or association.

David Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights attempts to establish principles
of the First Amendment on college campuses that Horowitz says have been
violated by liberals on campus.

Academic freedom is a First Amendment principle that teachers, students and
educational institutions should be able to pursue knowledge without
government interference.

Although the First Amendment doesn’t mention freedom of access to
courtrooms, the Supreme Court has held that the public right to attend
criminal proceedings is implied.

Accommodationism says the First Amendment promotes a beneficial
relationship between religion and government. It is a way to interpret the
establishment and free exercise clauses.

Actual malice is the legal standard the Supreme Court uses to protect the
media in libel cases in determining when public officials or figures may
win damages in lawsuits.

In First Amendment law, ad hoc balancing involves judging cases on their
unique facts, rejecting formulaic tests to determine whether speech is
protected or not.

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher who published “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” (1759) and “The Wealth of Nations” (1776) and is often considered to be the father of capitalism.  Smith identified with Scottish common sense philosophers including Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Thomas Reid and others. Smith’s works explained how market forces of supply and

The Adult Film Association of America was founded as the first trade
association of pornographic film producers, working to defend the First
Amendment rights of the industry.

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has faced censorship since its
publication in 1885. Alleged racist material has been most often cited for
banning the book in schools.

Mere advocacy of illegal conduct was not protected by the First Amendment
until Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), which created the incitement to imminent
lawless action test.

Two Supreme Court cases involving affirmative action relied in part on the
First Amendment to protect a university’s admission rights and to uphold
use of racial preferences.

Laws that seek to block animal rights activists and others from recording or otherwise documenting alleged abuses of animals or animal cruelty in the agriculture industry, often as part of undercover investigations, are referred to as ag-gag laws. Defenders of the laws contend they are necessary to protect agricultural property, business operations and privacy.  Detractors

The Supreme Court has ruled in many cases involving government aid to
religious schools. The Court primarily has weighed whether such aid
violates the First Amendment.

The Aitken Bible, which was adopted in 2024 as one of Tennessee’s 10 official state books, is associated with a challenge to the idea of separation of church and state.The Aitken Bible, a King James Version, was printed in 1792 by Robert Aitken when the Revolutionary War had disrupted the import of Bibles used in the colonies. Aitken unsuccessfully sought Congress to to help fund the printing.

Few if any scientific figures are better known, or have had a greater impact on modern science, than Albert Einstein, a theoretical physicist who was born in Germany in 1879 and died in the United States in 1955. Einstein was best known for his theory of relativity and for the idea, for which he received a

Albert Gallatin, best known as President Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of
the Treasury, promoted civil liberties, including those found in the First
Amendment.

Alcohol advertising is protected under the First Amendment as long as it
does not promote unlawful activity and is not misleading, but it can be
regulated.

Alex Kozinski, a former judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is
well-known for his First Amendment writings in the areas of commercial
speech and publicity.

Alexander Bickel, a well-known legal scholar, was the attorney for the New
York Times in the Pentagon Papers case that advanced First Amendment press
freedom.

In 1812, a violent mob broke into a Baltimore newspaper office and attacked its owner Alexander Contee Hanson, whose articles opposing the War of 1812 angered them. In an example of lack of protection of press freedom, government officials refused to defend the newspaper owner and his defenders, even in jail, where another attack occurred, killing one and disfiguring another.

Though initially opposed to the Bill of Rights, Alexander Hamilton had a
lifelong concern with the individual liberties guaranteed by the First
Amendment.

Alexander Meiklejohn argued that the First Amendment’s primary purpose is
to ensure that voters are free to debate in order to make informed choices
about their self-government.

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote one of the most profound discussions of
American democracy in the 19th century. He was particularly impressed by
the role of First Amendment freedoms.

Alfred M. Knight III was a Nashville-based attorney who specialized in
First Amendment and open government litigation. For much of his career, he
represented The Tennessean.

Algernon Sidney was the world’s most celebrated martyr for free speech.
Sidney became a hero to American Founding Fathers who used the First
Amendment to protect free speech.

The Alliance Defending Freedom is a conservative Christian organization
dedicated to issues connected to First Amendment religious freedom and
family preservation.

Alvin Goldstein was an outspoken publisher of pornography and advocate of
free speech who was engaged in several First Amendment battles in the
courts.

The book American Aurora illustrates the use of newspapers as partisan
instruments and the precariousness of First Amendment press freedom in
early U.S. history.

The American Center for Law and Justice, the legal advocacy arm of
religious conservatives, litigates issues of First Amendment religious
freedom and “family values.”

The American Civil Liberties Union states as its mission the protection and
preservation of First Amendment rights, equal protection under the law, and
the right of privacy.

The American Friends Service Committee, founded in 1917, has been active in
defending civil rights and civil liberties, and is a vocal proponent of
First Amendment protections, especially the right of association and
freedom of speech.

The American Library Association supports the First Amendment rights of
freedom of speech and press as they pertain to libraries, librarians, and
library patrons.

The American Nazi Party is one of several hundred white supremacist groups
in the United States whose words and actions have tested the limits of the
First Amendment.

The American Society of News Editors concerns itself with issues of
importance to newspaper editors and journalism in general, including First
Amendment issues.

The pacifism and effort of the Amish and Mennonites to separate themselves
from worldliness have led to a number of important First Amendment legal
precedents.

Amy Coney Barrett was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2020
to fill a vacancy after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. Still new to the
court, it will take more cases to fully examine her record on First
Amendment law.

Most anarchy statutes were passed in the early 1900s in response to the
growing visibility of anarchists. Attempts to stifle anarchy led to
restrictions on First Amendment rights.

Andrea Dworkin, a radical feminist writer and theorist, rejected First
Amendment protections for pornography, arguing that pornography encourages
violence against women.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), who served as president from 1829 to 1837, was one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history. Born in North Carolina, Jackson spent most of his life in Tennessee where he served as a justice on the state supreme court from 1798 to 1804 and as a U.S. senator from 1823

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was born in North Carolina but spent most of his life in Tennessee. Lacking formal education, he began his working life as a tailor and was taught by his wife to read and write. A Jacksonian Democrat, he served as a town alderman, as mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee, in the U.S. House of

In its only animal sacrifice case, the Court said a city ordinance
prohibiting animal sacrifice violated the First Amendment by targeting the
Santeria religion.

Anne Hutchinson was a religious leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the mother of 15 children. She held Bible studies in her home, which were attended by both men and women, and she challenged the authority of the Puritan clergy. Hutchinson was eventually banished from the colony and moved to Rhode Island.

The Supreme Court has protected anonymity under the First Amendment, but it
has balanced this protection against competing interests, notably in the
area of political activity.

Anthony Comstock imposed his Victorian values on a rapidly urbanizing
United States, sometimes in disregard for the protections afforded by the
First Amendment.

Anthony Kennedy has frequently been the swing vote in First Amendment
cases. He has tended to side with protections for free speech and
accommodation on religious matters.

Anthony Lewis was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered the
Supreme Court for the New York Times and authored several First Amendment
books.

The Anti-Dial-a-Porn Act of 1989 was overturned for a blanket prohibition
on indecent and obscene telephone recordings. Indecency is protected by the
First Amendment.

Laws that protect individuals from discrimination based on race, sex,
ethnicity, age, religion, or sexual orientation often have First Amendment
implications.

The opposition of the Anti-Federalists to the 1787 U.S. Constitution
without a bill of rights was an important factor leading to the adoption of
the First Amendment.

Most anti-mask laws do not target specific groups. Instead, they typically
ban mask wearing that intimidates. Opponents of such laws invoke First
Amendment freedom of association.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia viewed First Amendment protections in
a narrow fashion. He was a staunch conservative and viewed the Constitution
as an originalist.

Archibald Cox is best known for his role as special prosecutor in the
Watergate investigation, but his career also involved a number of First
Amendment issues.

Artistic expression has historically been subject to some measure of
censorship in the United States. The First Amendment provides significant
protection to artistic expression.

Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg was a consistent vote for the
protection of First Amendment freedoms, including in the landmark case New
York Times Co. v. Sullivan.

Arthur Hays was founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Although he had many corporate clients, he is best known for defending
First Amendment freedoms.

Arthur Kinoy was a well-known civil liberties attorney, who tirelessly
advocated for liberal causes. He argued a few First Amendment cases before
the Supreme Court.

Arthur Miller’s criticisms of McCarthyism in one of his plays led to a
congressional investigation, where he stood by his First Amendment rights
of association.

In as-applied challenges in First Amendment cases, litigants contend that a
law or regulation is unconstitutional as applied to their expressive
activities.

Governments must treat atheism like a religion for purposes of the First
Amendment. The establishment clause prohibits the government from favoring
religion over non-religion.

Bar regulators attempt to protect the public from misleading attorney ads
while ensuring that attorneys retain a measure of First Amendment free
expression protection.

Lawyers do not forfeit all of their free-speech rights as members of a
profession, but their speech rights are limited in many ways. Rules of
professional conduct adopted by the supreme courts in each state, for
example, prohibit lawyers from making false statements about judges,
writing legal papers that are deemed “frivolous,” engaging in speech that
disrupts the tribunal or engaging in direct, face-to-face solicitation of
prospective clients, with a few exceptions.

Whether judges can prohibit attorneys from wearing pins or symbols with a
political message in a courtroom is an unsettled First Amendment issue
highlighted recently in Las Vegas.

Sometimes state autopsy laws conflict with religious objections to such
procedures, bringing into play First Amendment questions of religious
liberty. Public access to autopsy records of the government have also been
disputed.

The bad tendency test became the most influential standard used by courts
to determine whether criticism of the government during World War I was
protected by the First Amendment.

Ballot access refers to procedures regulating how candidates will be
presented to voters in elections. Ballot access continues to be the subject
of First Amendment debate.

Ballot selfies refer to photos people take of their voting ballots and then display on social media or elsewhere.  Many states have sought to regulate or outright prohibit the display of ballot selfies, thus presenting a pristine First Amendment issue. States that prohibit ballot selfies argue that ballot selfies could lead to the buying and selling

Banned Books Week is intended to make the public more aware of the frequent
challenges to the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and
press.

Baptists were the first religious group to adopt separation of church and
state as a fundamental article of faith. They have advocated for worldwide
religious freedom.

The bar admission process has produced many First Amendment-based
challenges, especially when an applicant is denied because of past
political associations or beliefs.

Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 to an American mother and a Kenyan father.  He earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia and a law degree from Harvard University, where he served as president of the law review. After working as a civil rights attorney and teaching at the University of Chicago Law School,

The philosophy of John Locke and other Englishmen is most associated with the American Founding and its emphasis on rights that are embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the First Amendment, and other provisions of the Bill of Rights. But one of the framers’ most quoted philosophers was Charles Louis de Secondat De Montesquieu of

Behind the Green Door (1972) was the first hard-core pornographic movie
widely distributed in the U.S. It led to numerous obscenity prosecutions,
particularly in the South.

The idea that government can exercise “benevolent neutrality” toward
religion attempts to combine the ideas of neutrality and accommodationism
from First Amendment jurisprudence.

Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo authored many opinions that
supported freedom of the press and free speech, which he viewed as the
foundation of liberty.

Benjamin Franklin, a man of many talents, helped shape the U.S.
Constitution and was a lifetime champion of First Amendment freedoms,
particularly freedom of the press.

Benjamin Franklin Bache, grandson of Benjamin Franklin, was arrested under
the Sedition Act of 1798. In his partisan journalism he was accused of
libeling President John Adams.

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), the grandson of former president William Henry Harrison and the great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, who had signed the Declaration of Independence. He served as the 23rd president from 1889 to 1893. Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland in the electoral college (albeit not in the popular vote) in 1888, but lost both the popular and

The Berkeley Free Speech Movement refers to college students who in the
1960s challenged many University of California campus regulations limiting
their First Amendment rights.

The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, was
established in 1791 to guard against an oppressive national government by
establishing certain rights.

Regulation of billboards raises many First Amendment issues such as to what
extent can the government limit access to public billboards or prohibit
privately owned billboards?

William Franklin “Billy” Graham (1918-2018) was the best-known Baptist evangelist of the 20th century. After earning an undergraduate degree at Wheaton University, Graham became a pastor, hosted a radio program, became involved with Youth for Christ, and briefly headed Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before beginning a series of evangelistic crusades throughout the United

Birth control is a way by which pregnancy from sexual intercourse can be
prevented. Communication about birth control has not always received First
Amendment protection.

Black Lives Matter is a protest movement to call attention to police
treatment of Black Americans. Response to protests have sometimes led to a
chilling effect on First Amendment freedoms.

In the 1940s-’50s, a blacklist named people whose opinions or associations
were deemed Communist. Opponents said blacklists and HUAC hearings violated
free expression.

Blaine amendments—19th century amendments to state constitutions—aimed to
deny public funds for parochial schools and amplified the First Amendment’s
establishment clause.

Blasphemy laws punish people who express irreverence for religion and
sacred things. Laws against blasphemy have disappeared in the U.S. because
of the First Amendment.

Blogging implicates many First Amendment issues. These include whether
bloggers are protected by shield laws, anonymous defamatory messages, and
campaign-finance matters.

Blue sky laws refers to each state’s set of securities laws and
regulations. The Supreme Court said that states can regulate speech to
prevent securities fraud.

Book banning, the most widespread form of censorship, occurs when books are
pulled from libraries, school reading lists, or bookstores because someone
objects to their content.

Courts have recognized boycotts as having First Amendment protection as
long as their goals are to influence political reform rather than economic
gain.

Breach-of-the-peace laws typically cover conduct that is disorderly and
disturbs the peace of a community. Most states have such laws criminalizing
certain speech and conduct.

Although the administrative experience and credentials of a number of Donald Trump’s nominations are being questioned, few nominees appear more qualified for their posts than Brendan Carr (b. 1979) to be chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr has been the senior Republican on the commission. He has been previously nominated by both Presidents Trump

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, confirmed in 2018, authored many
First Amendment decisions while on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit. Among the issues in his opinions are protest rights, defamation,
campaign finance and freedom of speech and press.

Bruce Sanford is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of BakerHostetler, where he practices media law and litigation.

Courts have ruled that the First Amendment protects bumper stickers even
when they are profane. This protection is less certain for public employees
and military personnel.

Byron Raymond White was a Supreme Court justice whose First Amendment
opinions tended to give less importance to press freedom and student speech
concerns.

Founded in the 1970s to provide public access to the political process,
C-SPAN began airing floor activities of the House of Representatives in
1979.

C. Edwin Baker was a leading First Amendment scholar who wrote Human
Liberty and Freedom of Speech. He described the liberty model justification
for freedom of expression.

Critics of a California law cracking down on authentication of autographed
collectibles say it violates the First Amendment by limiting the spread of
information.

Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) was born on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where he would receive the news in 1923 that President Warren G. Harding, under whom he served as vice president, had died and that he was now president. His father, a justice of the peace, had administered the oath to him by

Allowing cameras in courtrooms has stirred controversy and led to Supreme
Court decisions in First Amendment cases. The Court has allowed states to
experiment with this issue.

College campuses have long been testing grounds for freedom of speech. In the 1960s, the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, motivated in part by student opposition to the Vietnam War, challenged campus regulations of freedom of speech.  In recent years, students have shouted down popular speakers and campuses have disinvited controversial speakers.  The October 7 attack by Hamas

Courts having ruled that college campus speech codes violate students’
First Amendment rights, but arguments that colleges have a legitimate
interest in such regulations continue.

Some have questioned whether the decision to allow preacher Billy Graham’s
body to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol was a violation of the First
Amendment.

The storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the related “Stop the
Steal” campaign has set off a number of First Amendment and legal issues
involving free speech, defamation and even the right to run for reelection.

The captive audience doctrine protects people in certain places and
circumstances from unwanted speech. It is an exception to the First
Amendment rule.

Justice Harlan Fiske Stone inserted a footnote that marked a Court shift in
giving more constitutional protection to individual rights, especially
those of the First Amendment.

Feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon argues that pornography should
be illegal as it perpetuates sexual inequality. She has faced pushback from
First Amendment proponents.

The First Amendment drew language from Cato’s Letters, which endorsed free
speech and said that people must be able to “petition for redress” their
government.

Censorship occurs when individuals or groups try to prevent others from
expressing themselves. Government censorship violates the freedoms of
speech and of the press.

The Supreme Court developed the Central Hudson test for determining when
government could limit commercial speech without violating the First
Amendment.

Government-funded chaplain programs are one area in which religious rights
of prisoners and military personnel may outweigh First Amendment violations.

While laws aimed at curbing solicitations by charities have been overturned
on First Amendment grounds, charities can be required to disclose how their
money is spent.

Charles Hughes was a Supreme Court justice twice. He supported relatively
broad First Amendment protections while and helped preserve judicial
independence.

Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) was born in Vermont (his father was a Baptist minister) but was raised in New York where he spent most of his life. He graduated from Union College, served for a time as a teacher, read law, and was admitted to the New York bar. During the Civil War, he served as

The Chicago Seven Trial of 1969 convicted anti-war demonstrators for intent
to incite a riot. Many said the law under which they were convicted
violated the First Amendment.

Direct government aid to religious schools has been found to violate the
First Amendment, but under the child benefit theory, government can aid the
students.

A judge’s order in a child custody case could implicate the First
Amendment, particularly when the judge forbids a parent from certain
statements that is deemed harmful.

Child Online Protection Act of 1998 devised to prevent minors from
accessing obscene material on the Internet was found to be too broad in
limiting First Amendment rights.

The Supreme Court has ruled some laws outlawing child pornography and
children’s access to obscene materials were too broad and infringed upon
First Amendment rights.

The Supreme Court overturned the Child Pornography and Prevention Act in
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) ruling it was too broad and
unconstitutional. The law made it a federal crime not only to send images
of real children engaged in explicit sexual activity but also
computer-generated images of the same.

Chilling effect is the concept of deterring First Amendment free speech and
association rights through laws or regulations that appear to target
expression.

35,000 signatures were presented to Congress in 1876 to add a Christian
Amendment to the Constitution to acknowledge the rulership of Jesus Christ.
The effort failed.

The Christian Legal Society maintains the Center for Law and Religious
Freedom in Washington D.C., which has filed numerous briefs in First
Amendment cases.

Christian nationalism has played a key role in U.S. history that many think
plays a meaningful role in a country that guarantees religious liberty.
Others are concerned that a more militant phase threatens First Amendment
religious liberty and separation of church and state.

Many states have convicted Christian Scientists, who espouse healing
through prayer, of neglect and manslaughter; others have granted exemptions
under the First Amendment.

Citizens for Decent Literature worked to stop the sale of obscenity and
filed briefs in anti-pornography cases. Non-obscene pornography is
protected by the First Amendment.

The First Amendment establishment clause protects against government
religion, but there is a strong culture of civil religion, a mix between
nationalism and religion.

The expressive actions and protests during the Civil Rights era led to
considerable growth in First Amendment court precedents, including areas of
association and libel.

Abraham Lincoln and his administration restricted constitutional liberties
during the Civil War, including freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Clarence Darrow is one of America’s most famous defense attorneys who
sought to protect First Amendment rights. He is best known for his role in
the Scopes monkey trial.

Justice Clarence Thomas has surprised observers with his independent vision
on First Amendment issues, including questioning interpretations of the
establishment clause.

The Supreme Court in 1971 ruled that the government cannot restrain in
advance the press from publishing classified documents under the First
Amendment.

Clay Calvert is a First Amendment scholar who has authored First Amendment
law articles on topics including broadcast indecency and recording of
police activities.

In the 20th century, the Supreme Court established the clear and present
danger test as the predominate standard for determining when speech is
protected by the First Amendment.

The last state constitution ban on clergy holding public office was
eliminated in Tennessee in 1978 after a First Amendment case that went to
the Supreme Court.

The coercion test helps the Supreme Court determine whether government
practices violate the First Amendment’s establishment clause. It is most
often used in public school cases.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund defends comic book and graphic novel
writers who sometimes are prosecuted under obscenity regulations. Courts
have often struck down such laws as overly broad and in violation of the
First Amendment, but some defendants accept plea deals to avoid lengthy
trials.

Commercial speech is a form of protected communication under the First
Amendment, but it does not receive as much free speech protection as forms
of noncommercial speech.

The Commission on Obscenity and Pornography told Congress to focus on
restricting juvenile access to pornography, instead of focusing on
consenting adults.

The Committee on Public Information was the first large-scale propaganda
agency of the U.S. government and was viewed by some as stifling First
Amendment-protected dissent.

The Communications Act of 1934 regulated television and radio. Broadcasters
have public obligations, which serve as a limit on their First Amendment
rights.

Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in an attempt to prevent minors from gaining access to sexually explicit materials on the internet.   It prohibited any individual from transmitting “obscene or indecent” messages to a recipient under 18 and outlawed the knowing display of “patently offensive” materials in a

The development of First Amendment free speech and association rights in
the United States owes much to the battle against the Communism Party of
America.

In 1973, the Supreme Court said that community standards must be taken into
account in determining whether something was obscene or could be protected
by the First Amendment.

The compelled speech doctrine sets out that the First Amendment prevents
the government from punishing a person for refusing to articulate or adhere
to its messages.

A government regulation that impairs First Amendment rights must meet a
higher standard of need — defined as a “compelling government interest” —
to be considered constitutional.

Although the United States has prohibited denying the vote to African Americans (15th Amendment, 1870), women (19th Amendment, 1920), and individuals who are 18 years or older (26th Amendment, 1971), commentators often decry low voting participation rates, particularly in nonpresidential election years. One proposal that has surfaced from time to time is that of compulsory

The Comstock Act of 1873 made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or
lascivious” publications through the mail or sell or possess an obscene
book, pamphlet or drawing.

The Supreme Court, while allowing the removal of the Confederate flag to
stop disruption, has declined to find that flag infringes upon the rights
of those who find it repugnant.

Government entities have grappled with whether to remove Confederate
monuments from public grounds. Individuals have the First Amendment right
to keep statues on private property.

The 1950s Confidential magazine was the founder of tabloid journalism in
America. The magazine folded under the weight of legal bills after libel
investigations.

Some courts recognize a reporters’ privilege to not reveal confidential
sources as a First Amendment right, but each jurisdiction varies in the
level of protection.

The Court has ruled that some laws passed by Congress violate the First
Amendment. Some congressional investigations have raised questions about
the right of association.

Cold War-era congressional investigations led to the Court recognizing the
First Amendment right of an individual to refuse to answer questions about
past associations.

There are concerns about conspiracy laws interfering with First Amendment
rights by allowing governments to crack down on those who disagree with the
positions of the state.

Some lawmakers have proposed amendments that would change provisions in the
First Amendment, but to date, no such amendment has summoned enough support
to pass.

The 1787 Constitutional Convention built the U.S. Constitution. The
constitution did not include explicit protection of First Amendment rights.
A Bill of Rights was adopted later.

Civil contempt of court can be fixed by obeying court orders. Criminal
contempt involves violating the dignity of the court and is more likely to
raise First Amendment issues.

A content-based law discriminates against speech based on the substance of
what is communicated. In contrast, a content-neutral law applies without
regard to its substance.

In First Amendment free speech cases, laws that are content neutral apply
to all expression without regard to any particular message or substance.

Not long after Americans declared their independence of Great Britain, General Willaim Howe invaded New York with more than 30,000 troops, which included some 9,000 Hessian mercenaries. Hoping to encourage desertion among them, the Second Continental Congress, which had adopted the Declaration of Independence, adopted another resolution on August 14, 1776. It indicates that, even prior

The Smithsonian Institution is highly regarded throughout the world. Visits to Smithsonian museums are often a highlight of tours to the nation’s capital.  Established by a bequest of an English scientist James Smithson in 1846, the institution now includes numerous museums and related institutions including the National Zoo, with admission to most of them being free. 

The Supreme Court has acknowledged the compatibility of copyright and First
Amendment free expression, but tension does exist as owners often seek to
limit dissemination.

The first federal copyright law was passed in the First Congress in 1790
and predated the ratification of the First Amendment. Its purpose was to
encourage learning.

Harmonizing copyright law with First Amendment principles, the Copyright
Act of 1976 incorporated the concept of fair use for the first time in such
a law.

Can the government restrict gatherings, including church services, during
the coronavirus outbreak or is that a violation of the First Amendment
religious freedom and assembly clauses? The government has broad powers
during a health crisis. As long as restrictions apply equally, and not
single out churches, courts would likely uphold them.

Corporate speech refers to the rights of corporations to advertise their
products and to speak to matters of public concern, including by spending
money in elections.

The counterspeech doctrine, first articulated by Louis Brandeis in First
Amendment jurisprudence in 1927, posits that the remedy for false speech is
more speech that is true.

Forcing schools to teach creationism or Intelligent Design is a violation
of the First Amendment’s protection against establishment of religion,
courts have ruled.

In the United States, courts have based decisions regarding slanderous or
libelous statements on the First Amendment rights of free speech and
freedom of the press.

Thousands of Americans were arrested under criminal syndicalism laws in the
late 1910s and early 1920s despite being in direct opposition to the First
Amendment.

Critical race theory scholars have advocated for hate speech laws and have
said there is no value to protecting such speech under the First Amendment.

Cross burning, which has been used as a form of intimidation against
African Americans and Jews, has been defended in the courts on free speech
grounds.

Curfew laws have been challenged on First Amendment grounds, leading some
lower courts to overturn the laws unless they have exceptions for First
Amendment-protected activities.

Cyberbullying, bullying through electronic means, presents First Amendment
issues when statutes criminalizing cyberbullying are overly broad or vague.

Cybersquatting is considered to be abusive registration of domain names to
appropriate a trademark. Cybersquatters may claim a First Amendment right
to expression.

Damon Keith was a long-serving judge on the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals and an important figure in protecting civil rights. He authored
many First Amendment decisions, including involving symbolic speech and the
rights of a religious speaker.

Dan Paul was an attorney best known in First Amendment circles for winning
an important press freedom in Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo
(1974).

Although it is common to tie early American thinking about church and state to John Locke and other English Whigs, such as John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon who authored “Cato’s Letters,” it is less common to see references to the British novelist Daniel Defoe (1660-1731).  Born in England and educated at a boarding school of a

Daniel Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers, leading to a ruling that said
restricting publication of the papers represented prior restraint in
violation of the First Amendment.

Daniel Fowle highlighted freedom of the press in the Colonial period before
adoption of the First Amendment. He was arrested for publishing a pamphlet
satirizing the legislature.

David A. Cortman is an appellate advocate who has argued several First
Amendment cases before the Supreme Court. He serves as senior counsel with
the Alliance Defending Freedom.

David Hume (1711-1776) was a prominent Scottish historian and philosopher who was well known to the American Founders. Part of the Scottish common sense school of philosophy, Hume put great emphasis on experience and scientific methods and was skeptical of speculative philosophy and the fanaticism that he associated with political and religious ideologies. Hume praised

David Rabban is known for his First Amendment work, especially a book that
examined the legal interpretations of free speech during the “forgotten
years” between 1870 to 1920.

David Rein, a civil liberties lawyer, argued a number of cases before the
Supreme Court, several of them dealing with First Amendment issues and
McCarthyism.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter often showed sensitivity to First
Amendment values. He was a consistent voice for the protection of
free-expression principles.

Enacted in 13th century England, the series of laws known as De Scandalis
Magnatum made it illegal knowingly to spread false rumors that cause public
mischief.

The Declaration of Independence shows a vigorous exercise of future First
Amendment freedoms of speech and press, and paved the way for recognition
of the right of petition.

Deep Throat (1972), a pornographic film, introduced mainstream society to
pornography and was banned as obscene in 23 states. Obscenity is not
protected by the First Amendment.

Defamation lawsuits can have a chilling effect on free speech. The Supreme
Court first applied First Amendment protection from state libel laws in
1964 in New York Times v. Sullivan, establishing an actual malice standard
that had to be met by public officials.

Policies and programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion or diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (for convenience referred to as “DEI,” although proponents encourage the use of the words themselves wherever possible) have been a mainstay of American life in both the public and private sectors for several decades. They have been defended as an effective

The proposed Deleting Online Predators Act would require public schools and
libraries to block student access to social networks, raising questions
about First Amendment rights.

Although public opinion in a democratic republic like that of the United States is intended to be expressed chiefly through peaceful speech, petition, assembly and peaceable assembly consistent with the First Amendment and the ballot box, there are times when mobs have substituted violence for peaceful protest and rhetoric.Mob Violence and First Amendment FreedomsThe issue

James Madison’s “Detached Memoranda,” written after his presidency, reveals
his increasing emphasis on First Amendment separation of church and state.

The government mandates advertising disclaimers to protect consumers, but
they often present a First Amendment issue. Some say forced disclaimers are
a form of compelled speech.

Individuals and organizations that act in a political forum are subject to
disclosure requirements. Some say such laws impinge on First Amendment
freedoms.

Fighting foreign disinformation operations in America collided with fear of
government control of information in the Department of Homeland Security’s
short-lived Disinformation Governance Board.

When states began disestablishing churches, there were sometimes disputes as to whether former established churches should be able to keep properties for which their governments had previously collected taxes. As a general rule, they were able to do so, as illustrated by the case of Terrett v. Taylor (1815) in Virginia, which relied chiefly on

Several state legislators passed laws in 2021 and 2022 limiting the
discussion of race in public schools, raising questions about free speech
and academic freedom.

Through controversial political comments, the Dixie Chicks — a bluegrass
trio — became a symbol of U.S. political polarization and the First
Amendment’s protection of free speech.

President Donald Trump attacked the news media, promised to “open up” libel
law and increase religious freedom for evangelicals.

Door-to-door solicitation by political parties, religious groups, and
businesses can lead to clashes between First Amendment freedoms and
homeowners’ privacy rights.

Douglas Laycock, a law professor, is one of the nation’s foremost religious
liberty experts. He has argued First Amendment-related cases before the
Supreme Court.

Draft card burning became an iconic form of protest during the Vietnam War.
The Supreme Court rejected a First Amendment challenge to a law that
prohibited destroying the cards.

States in 2022 and 2023 began introducing laws to restrict drag show
performances, raising questions about the First Amendment rights of free
expression.

Dress codes are typically set by schools and employers. Though dress codes
face First Amendment challenges by students and others, courts generally
support schools and employers.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was born in Texas, raised in Kansas, and educated at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served most of his life in the military and, as Supreme Allied Commander, supervised the invasion of France at D-Day during World War II.   After a stint as chief of staff of

E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. a Washington, D.C., attorney, argued 19 cases
before the Supreme Court. Some involved First Amendment issues, including
freedom of the press.

The Eagle Forum is a conservative women’s group founded in 1972 by Phyllis
Schlafly. The organization has aligned with both conservative and liberal
views on the First Amendment.

Chief Justice Earl Warren’s Court was known for rulings backing civil
rights and a number of First Amendment milestones, including New York Times
Co. v. Sullivan.

Ecstasy (1933) was the first film blocked by the U.S. Customs Service from
entering the U.S. Court battles over the film pitted indecency laws against
the First Amendment.

Edward Douglass White (1845-1921), the ninth chief justice for the Supreme Court, was born in Louisiana where his father had served as a state governor. His father died when White was only three years old.    White became a lawyer, fought during the Civil War for the Confederacy, and was captured by Union forces. He

Edward R. Murrow was one of the creators of American broadcast journalism.
Murrow inspired other journalists to defend and perpetuate the First
Amendment rights.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation was founded in 1990 as a civil liberties
group advocating for First Amendment rights in digital and other new
technologies.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center advocates for First Amendment
freedoms of speech and privacy, particularly in new media such as the
Internet and surveillance.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, known for her deep knowledge of First
Amendment issues, has written opinions in many Supreme Court First
Amendment cases.

Newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy, killed in 1837 by a mob incensed by his
anti-slavery views, is a martyr in the causes of abolitionism and First
Amendment free speech.

Elisha Williams, known for writing a pamphlet that argued for religious
liberty before the First Amendment, denied that religious uniformity was
necessary for a peaceful society.

Emma Goldman demonstrated for First Amendment rights through speeches,
lectures, picketing and marching. She faced arrests and official harassment
for her unpopular views.

Wide-scale electronic communication has brought the government’s desire to
control encryption technology into sharp conflict with First Amendment and
Fourth Amendment rights.

Courts use the endorsement test to determine whether the government
impermissibly endorses or disapproves of religion in violation of the First
Amendment.

The English Bill of Rights of 1689 contains many rights that were later
included in the First Amendment, such as the right to petition and freedom
of speech and debate.

Many Americans believe that the ability to speak English should be a
requirement of U.S. citizenship. English-only laws may violate the First
Amendment rights.

Ephraim London was an attorney who successfully argued First Amendment
cases before the Supreme Court, including a case that established film as
protected expression.

The Equal Access Act of 1984 forbids public schools from receiving funds if
they deny students the First Amendment right to hold meetings, including
religious meetings.

The federal equal time rule requires broadcasters to treat political
candidates equally in terms of air time. Some see the rule as a violation
of First Amendment rights.

Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the foremost constitutional law scholars and
Supreme Court lawyers, writes on First Amendment issues and argues First
Amendment cases before the Court.

As solicitor general, Erwin Griswold unsuccessfully argued that the
security concerns of the Pentagon Papers outweighed the First Amendment
rights of a free press.

The Espionage Act of 1917, passed two months after the U.S. entered World
War I, criminalized the release of information that could hurt national
security and causing insubordination or disloyalty in the military. The law
was expanded in 1918 to criminalize dissent against the war effort, but
that portion of the law (the Sedition Act) was repealed.

When the First Amendment was ratified, it did not eliminate established
churches in states where they existed. Eventually, all established churches
were disestablished.

Labor leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs fought for associational and
organized labor rights under First Amendment. He was imprisoned under the
Espionage Act.

Evan T. Lawson was a Boston-based attorney who successfully argued two
First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court involving flag misuse and
commercial speech.

Evangelicals have been involved in Supreme Court cases concerning First
Amendment freedoms, winning such high-profile cases as Burwell v. Hobby
Lobby Stores.

The teaching of evolution has been at the heart of many cases brought under
the establishment clause, the free exercise clause, and the free speech
clause of the First Amendment.

Exacting scrutiny is a form of close judicial review used by the U.S.
Supreme Court to evaluate restrictions on speech in campaign finance,
election law and compelled disclosures. It appears to be a form of review
somewhere between strict scrutiny and intermediate scrutiny.

It is common to observe that Congress makes the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them and decide on their constitutionality, but political practices sometimes deviate from such a clear division. Nowhere is this clearer than when it comes to executive orders.   Such written directives by the president are textually based

The media argue that exit polling is a form of expression protected by the
First Amendment. States seeking to regulate the practice contend it
disrupts the electoral process.

Express advocacy is the use of words like “vote for” in political
communications. It’s protected by the First Amendment, but the spending of
money on such advocacy may be limited.

First Amendment facial challenge contends that a law is unconstitutional as
written (on its face). Such challenges may assert that a law is overbroad
or vague.

The fair report privilege is a state-law defense to defamation claims used
by journalists, although the level of protection may vary by state. Under
the privilege, a journalist is insulated from a defamation claim when he or
she publishes a defamatory comment that was part of official affairs of the
government.

Fair use allows copyrighted works to be used in ways that would infringe on
the copyright. Fair use is a way of preventing copyright from violating of
the First Amendment.

The fairness doctrine attempted to ensure that broadcast coverage of
controversial issues was fair. Many journalists opposed the policy as a
violation of the First Amendment.

False light invasion of privacy, portraying an individual unflatteringly in
words or pictures as someone that person is not, is not protected by the
First Amendment.

Because the First Amendment is designed to further the truth, it may not
protect individuals who engage in libel. Generally, the government does not
stand as the definer of truth.

The book Fanny Hill was the focus of one of the earliest obscenity cases in
the U.S. In 1966 the Court ruled the book was not obscene in Memoirs v.
Massachusetts.

FBI covert surveillance has created First Amendment controversy, as critics
have accused it of political repression against those who criticize the
government.

The FCC regulates scarce communications frequencies “in the public
interest.” Its power to regulate indecent programming has engendered First
Amendment controversy.

By controlling an overcrowded radio spectrum, the Federal Radio Commission,
established in 1927, preserved First Amendment freedoms for listeners and
broadcasters.

The Federal Theatre Project strived to embody the First Amendment through
their uncensored works. However, some of their productions were censored
and investigated by Congress.

The Federal Trade Commission regulates monopolies and stops unfair and
deceptive business practices. Its regulation implicates First Amendment
free expression.

Federalism distributes power between national and state governments. The
relation between federalism and the First Amendment has important
dimensions involving political theory.

Federalists supported the ratification of the Constitution and compromised
by adding a Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, to the
Constitution.

While Justice Felix Frankfurter championed civil rights, he frequently
voted to limit civil liberties and was not one of the great defenders of
the First Amendment.

Feminist theory, which argues that women should enjoy the same rights as
men, can challenge First Amendment doctrine by emphasizing equality over
free expression.

The fighting words doctrine, an exception to First Amendment-protected
speech, lets government limit speech when it is likely to incite immediate
retaliation by those who hear it.

Films, which are protected by the First Amendment, have addressed several
First Amendment-related topics, including the freedoms of religion, speech,
and press.

Federal appellate courts have ruled that people have a First Amendment
right to film police interactions with citizens.

In part because of the efforts of Hayden Covington, one of its former attorneys, Jehovah’s Witnesses were one of the one of the most effective litigators of First Amendment issues in the 20th century.   Their aggressive door-to-door witnessing often brought them into conflict with local licensing and permit laws. Their pacifism, and their refusal

The First Amendment Center seeks to protect First Amendment freedoms
through information and education. It provides a forum for dialogue on
First Amendment issues.

The First Amendment Lawyers Association has primarily defended clients in
the adult-entertainment industry in First Amendment cases before the
Supreme Court.

The First Amendment Project is a nonprofit law firm that advocates on
behalf of free expression values. The organization litigates on a variety
of First Amendment issues.

Although colleges and universities are generally considered essential to fostering informed citizenship, their campuses have often served as flash points for political issues many of which include the exercise of First Amendment rights.    What are the First Amendment rights of colleges and universities and their faculty when it comes to protecting their own academic freedom and

First Liberty Institute provides free legal services and support to those
dealing with religious liberty issues. It has expanded into religious
liberty litigation in all 50 states.

Flag desecration is one of the most polarizing First Amendment issues. The
Court has handed down decisions on flag desecration, holding it to be
protected expression.

Two acts were passed by Congress in 1968 and 1989 to protect the U.S. flag
from being burned by protesters. The Court struck both down on First
Amendment grounds.

Although the Court has said that the FCC can regulate fleeting expletives,
it has also overturned FCC sanctions, not on First Amendment grounds, but
because of vague policies.

Floyd Abrams, a well-known First Amendment lawyer, has argued many famous
cases before the Supreme Court, including the landmark Pentagon Papers case.

A number of the Puritans who came to America immigrated from Holland, which had a much more liberal policy toward Protestant religious freedom than many of the Pilgrims themselves established in America.   In 1645, Governor Willem Kieft of New Netherlands (today’s New York) granted a charter to settlers in Flushing (in today’s Queens) “to

Flags are important symbols and can evoke strong emotions depending on the context.  Flying a U.S. flag upside down as a form of protest has existed for at least 50 years. Legal precedents related to flag display Although flags representing nations are probably the most common, flags may also symbolize other causes. For example, a

The Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory authority has been at the
center of several cases revolving around the First Amendment protection of
commercial speech.

Many cities have tried to limit fortune telling, contending that the
practice amounts to attempted fraud. Fortune tellers argue that the
regulations violate the First Amendment.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an address to Congress, articulated the four
freedoms he thought every human should have, two of which relate to the
First Amendment.

Francis Biddle won praise for balancing freedom and security in World War
II. As attorney general, he fought for civil liberties like those in the
First Amendment.

Supreme Court Justice Francis W. Murphy wrote eloquently about First
Amendment freedoms, repeatedly voicing his belief that religious freedom
deserved great protection.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) was not only the longest serving but also one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history.   Born and raised in New York, Roosevelt earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a law degree from Columbia. Subsequently elected to the New York Senate, he also served as assistant secretary of

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) was born in New Hampshire and educated at Bowdoin College in Maine and Northampton Law School in Massachusetts. He served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives where he rose to the speakership, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1847, and was a

Fred W. Friendly, an early innovator of broadcast journalism, was also
known for his seminars on the media and public issues and for his writings
on the First Amendment.

Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became one of America’s greatest
orators, believed that the First Amendment rights to free speech and
assembly were essential in abolishing slavery in the United States.

Frederick Schauer’s First Amendment writings are notable for their
philosophical rigor, passionately favoring free speech but critiquing
arguments for it.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Frederick Vinson tended to favor national
security over First Amendment freedom of speech, and was a moderate on race
relations.

The Free Expression Network is an alliance of groups seeking to protect the
First Amendment right of free expression and to oppose suppression of
protected speech.

The Free Flow of Information Act would create a federal shield law to
protect reporters. Opponents of the law say the First Amendment does not
entitle press to special privileges.

Freedom of speech often suffers during times of war. Patriotism at times
devolves into jingoism and civil liberties take a backseat to security and
order.

The Free Speech League was the first organization in U.S. history to commit
itself to First Amendment free expression, no matter the subject or
viewpoint.

Free-speech zones refer to areas on college campuses and at certain public
events specifically designated for demonstrators to exercise their right to
freedom of speech.

The First Amendment guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” The notion that the act of gathering is pivotal to a functioning democracy relates to the belief that individuals espousing ideas will tend to coalesce around their commonalities. As a result, a correlative right of association — though not enumerated in the First Amendment

The Supreme Court has recognized expressive association and intimate
association under the First Amendment. It has also recognized the right not
to associate.

The Freedom of Information Act was adopted on the principle that government
should be transparent. Citizens can hold government accountable through
First Amendment freedoms

The first 16 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” protect the right of every person to practice religion in accordance with conscience and guard against creation of a sectarian state.   But the precise meaning of

Freedom of the press is a Constitutional guarantee contained in the First Amendment, which in turn is part of the Bill of Rights. This freedom protects the right to gather information and report it to others. While at the time of ratification in 1791, the free press clause addressed newspapers, it now applies to all

Funeral protest laws have been passed in response to distasteful protests
at military funerals. Courts have generally upheld the laws against First
Amendment challenges.

Gag orders on trial participants are often used to ensure fair trials. Gag
orders on the press must meet high standards set by the courts to avoid
prior restraint.

In the 1830s and 40s, Congress had a standing gag rule to table any
antislavery petition discussion. John Quincy Adams argued against this rule
and repealed it in 1844.

Geoffrey Stone is a First Amendment scholar and a law professor at the
University of Chicago who has written and edited numerous books on free
expression.

George Carlin was a controversial comedian whose “Filthy Words” monologue
sparked a Supreme Court case concerning government regulation of indecent
speech.

George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-2018), who was the son of a U.S. senator from Connecticut, served from 1989 to 1993 as president of the United States. He previously served for eight years as vice president under Ronald Reagan with whom he had unsuccessfully vied for the 1980 Republican nomination.    Bush was born in Massachusetts

George Hay was a lawyer, writer and federal district judge who contributed
to First Amendment theory by writing pamphlets defending the freedom of the
press.

George Mason, a Virginia statesman and one of the founders of the United
States, is best known for his proposal of a bill of rights at the
Constitutional Convention.

George W. Bush, who was born in 1946, served as U.S. president from 2001 to 2009. The son of George H. W. Bush, he was born and raised in Texas, and earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his master’s of business administration from Harvard.   He spent some time as a pilot in

George W. Truett was a Baptist pastor and leader. His best-known speech in 1920, “Baptists and Religious Liberty,” was given on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building to a huge audience and touted the idea that religious liberty was the most important contribution made by American and Baptists to the science of government. He called the First Amendment a “pre-eminently” Baptist achievement, drawing on the founders and early Christians who desired for the church and state to be separate, neither trespassing “upon the distinctive functions of the other.”

George Washington, first President of the United States, favored the Bill
of Rights and advocated for religious freedom throughout his life.

Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) is the only individual who has served as U.S. president without being elected to that office as either president or vice-president.   Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Grand Rapids Michigan, Ford earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan, where he played on the school’s football team. He

The American Psychiatric Association prohibits members from offering
opinions about the mental state of public figures under the Goldwater Rule,
which it adopted after public evaluations of presidential candidate Barry
Goldwater’s psychiatric state.

The Supreme Court has generally supported speech restrictions on government
funding, even when those restrictions may have a chilling effect on First
Amendment rights.

The Government in the Sunshine Act requires meetings of bodies that govern
federal agencies to be open unless they fall under 10 exceptions in the law.

Court rulings in the 2nd and 4th Circuit Courts of Appeal establish that
when a government official opens up a social media account for public
comment, the section of the site that is interactive is a designated public
forum. As such, the First Amendment prohibits government officials from
engaging in viewpoint discrimination.

Under the government speech doctrine, the government has its own rights as
speaker that can assert its own messages, immune from challenges of
viewpoint discrimination.

Court decisions have interpreted the First Amendment establishment clause
as prohibiting prayers in public schools during both school hours and
school functions.

The gravity of the evil test is a refinement of the clear and present
danger test to determine when First Amendment free speech may be subject to
criminal prosecution.

Green River ordinances are local ordinances that prohibit individuals from
engaging in door-to-door solicitations unless the residents have given
their consent.

Greg Lukianoff is the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education (FIRE) and one of the country’s most passionate defenders of free
expression.

Since the 1900s, group libel, the defamation of an entire group of people,
has coexisted uneasily with the First Amendment’s emphasis on individual
speech rights.

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) has the distinction of being the only U.S. president to serve two non-successive terms. He became the 22nd president when he served from 1885 to 1889 and the 24th when he served from 1893 to 1897.   Born in New Jersey (his father was a Presbyterian minister) and largely raised in New

H. Louis Sirkin is a Cincinnati-based attorney nationally known for his
First Amendment work, defending of clients in obscenity and adult
entertainment cases.

Hair, a musical, sparked First Amendment controversy with its obscene
content. The original production was a harbinger of the changes taking
place in American culture.

Hair regulations in schools, prisons and workplaces have led to First
Amendment battles, with litigants challenging policies for violating
individuals’ rights.

Harlan Fiske Stone served as an associate justice and chief justice on the
Supreme Court, where he showed sensitivity to civil liberties and First
Amendment values.

Harmful to minors laws seek to protect minors from pornography, obscenity
and other material that may bring harm to them. Obscenity is not protected
by the First Amendment.

Harry Andrew Blackmun was an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court,
best known for writing the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade that overturned
most state abortion laws.

Harry Kalven Jr. was University of Chicago law professor best known for
advocacy of and thoughtful writings about First Amendment freedom of speech
and expression.

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) was born and raised in Missouri, spent about a year at Spalding’s Commercial College (a business college in Kansas City) without getting a degree, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, and returned to Missouri where he served as a haberdasher and farmer. He then became involved in politics

Harry Weinberger was a litigator for numerous civil liberties and First
Amendment causes in the early 1900s, including theater censorship and the
military draft.

The Hatch Act of 1939, which limited the political participation and speech
of federal employees, has survived First Amendment free expression
challenges.

Although the First Amendment still protects much hate speech, there has
been much debate on the subject in the past two decades among lawmakers and
legal scholars.

Hayden C. Covington was one of the most important and least heralded
attorneys on First Amendment issues, especially those related to the free
exercise of religion.

The practice of flashing headlights to alert other drivers to an upcoming
patrol car has been claimed as a form of expression protected under the
First Amendment.

A heckler’s veto occurs when the government restricts speech because of the
reactions of opponents of the speech. Courts have said hecklers’ vetoes
violate the First Amendment.

The Heffron principle is used to reject free-speech claims when claimants
have other avenues of expression open. The principle can infringe upon
First Amendment rights.

Henry W. Sawyer III was a civil liberties attorney who successfully argued
two of the most important religious liberty First Amendment cases before
the Supreme Court.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was born in Iowa — becoming the first president to be born west of the Mississippi River — and earned a bachelor’s degree in geology at Stanford University in California.   A gifted engineer, Hoover earned a reputation and a formidable income in mining in Australia, Burma and elsewhere. He was tapped

Herbert Wechsler was a leading lawyer and legal scholar best known in First
Amendment circles for arguing the landmark libel case New York Times Co. v.
Sullivan.

The Hicklin Test, an obscenity standard originating in England, was
initially used in America but did not survive constitutional challenges
based on the First Amendment.

Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors” was involved in a
First Amendment case in which a circuit court said the First Amendment did
not protect the book.

While other countries have prosecuted Holocaust deniers, the United States
has had a different response, due to the freedom of speech ensured in the
First Amendment.

The practice of homeschooling in America falls within parents’ and
students’ protected First Amendment rights of free speech and the free
exercise of religion.

Horace Mann’s vision of universal education and non-sectarian schools was a
precursor to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of First Amendment
principles in public schools.

Motorists argue that honking car horns is a form of expression or protest
protected by the First Amendment. Courts have mostly rejected this argument.

The House Un-American Activities Committee took a prominent role in
investigating communist activity. Its critics contend that it trampled
First Amendment rights.

Howard Stern, one of the most controversial radio personalities,
consistently pushing the boundaries of First Amendment free expression
rights on public airwaves.

Hugh Hefner, founder of the controversial Playboy magazine, was a prominent
advocate of First Amendment rights. His magazine was thought to be obscene
by some.

Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black is considered to be one of the
most influential justices of his time. On First Amendment issues, Black was
considered an absolutist.

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was an African American woman who was born into
slavery in Mississippi and eventually became the co-owner and editor of the
Memphis Free Speech.

Federal courts have consistently upheld “In God We Trust” as a national
motto, which when on coins or elsewhere does not violate the establishment
clause of the First Amendment.

Many Supreme Court cases upholding restrictions on subversive speech have
relied on the idea that such speech is forbidden because it incites
violence or illegal actions.

First Amendment rights that are protected from government restriction have
been expanded to include protection from state government as well as
federal government in a process known as incorporation.

The FCC defines indecency in the broadcast industries and regulates the
content of television and radio broadcasts to prevent the airing of
inappropriate material.

Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act to pay American Indian
education using religious schools to diffuse First Amendment controversy
over church-state conflict.

Intelligent design is a theory that the universe was designed by an
intelligent higher power. Teaching the theory blurs the lines between
church and state.

The Court faces challenges in dealing with regulation of online speech
because of the internet’s unique ability to spread information quickly and
widely.

An intrusion on seclusion claim applies when someone intentionally
intrudes, physically or through electronic surveillance, upon the solitude
or seclusion of another.

Isaac Backus, an influential Baptist, helped establish the notion of free
exercise of religion, which eventually was incorporated into the First
Amendment.

Islam has several unique religious free exercise issues stemming from the
First Amendment; however, the establishment clause has roused little debate.

Issue advocacy refers to advertising on public issues unregulated by
political campaign finance laws. Laws regulating issue advocacy have had
mixed results in the courts.

J. Edgar Hoover was director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 48
years. His critics accused him violating individuals’ First Amendment
rights.

James Skelly Wright was a highly respected federal judge who was perhaps
best known for his impact on civil rights and desegregation, specifically
in New Orleans.

In addition to being twice impeached during his first term in the presidential office, Donald J. Trump was the subject of multiple legal investigations after he left office in 2021. He faced prosecutions in Georgia for election tampering (now on hold because of possible conflicts of interest in the district attorney’s office), faced and lost

James A. Garfield (1831-1881) was from Ohio and was the last president to have been born in a log cabin. After some time doing manual labor, he studied at what later became known as Hiram College, which was run by the Disciples of Christ, and became a preacher. He subsequently graduated with honors from Williams

James G. Birney (1792-1857) founded the abolitionist newspaper, the Philanthropist. In 1836, a mob destroyed his press and went on to riot several nights, attacking Black homes in the city.   A group, calling themselves “the friends of Order, of Law, and the Constitution” that included future Supreme Court Justice Salmon Chase  criticized such actions.

James Buchanan (1791-1868), who was born in Pennsylvania and earned his bachelor’s degree at Dickinson College, had a distinguished career as a lawyer, politician and diplomat before succeeding Franklin Pierce to become the 15th U.S. president, serving from 1857 to 1861.    Abraham Lincoln followed Buchanan as president. Prior to his presidency, Buchanan had served

James Burgh, an 18th century British political theorist, advocated for broader protections of speech than was recognized by British law at the time.

James Gibbons’ greatest contribution to thinking about the First Amendment was that of lauding the American doctrine of separation of church and state at a time when the Roman Catholic Church prided itself on being the established church in many European nations. Gibbons was a Catholic priest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who became archbishop of Baltimore and later only the second American to be named a cardinal.

James C. Goodale, a prominent First Amendment attorney, is best known for
leading the New York Times in its successful litigation in the Pentagon
Papers case.

James K. Polk (1795-1849) was born in North Carolina but spent most of his political life in Tennessee. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and read law in Nashville under Felix Grundy.   After serving as a clerk to the Tennessee State Senate, Polk was elected to

James Madison, the chief author of the Bill of Rights and the First
Amendment, was the foremost champion of the freedoms of religion, speech,
and the press in the Founding Era.

James Monroe (1758-1731), who served as the fifth U.S. president from 1817 to 1825, is often identified as the last of the Founding Fathers. Born in Virginia, where he would serve as governor and which he would represent in the U.S. Senate, Monroe attended the College of William and Mary before serving as a soldier

James Wilson (1742-1798), who was born in Scotland and emigrated to the United States at the age of 23, studied law under John Dickinson, and went on to become one of the leading attorneys in Pennsylvania.    One of America’s founders, he was appointed as one of the early Supreme Court justices by George Washington.

Jasper Adams (1793-1841), an American clergyman, is best known for his arguments that the Constitution and other documents recognized Christianity as the national religion. This argument appeared to contradict the provision in the First Amendment that prohibited the establishment of such a religion.    Adams delivered a key sermon on his argument in 1833 at

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, is
a leading Supreme Court litigator. He has argued numerous First Amendment
cases before the high court.

Perhaps no religious sect has had a greater impact relative to its size on
expanding the First Amendment free exercise of religion than has the
Jehovah’s Witnesses.

James (Jimmy) Earl Carter, Jr. defeated Gerald Ford in the presidential election of 1976 and served in that office from 1977 to 1981. Born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924, he earned his undergraduate degree at the U.S. Naval Academy.   After serving in the Navy, he returned to Plains to manage a peanut farm. He

Joseph R. Biden Jr. was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1942. He earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Delaware and a law degree from Syracuse University, and has spent most of his life as an elected official.   He served as a U.S. senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009 and as vice

John Adams, who served as the first vice president and second President of
the United States, also supported First Amendment principles through his
political writings and thought.

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) was a prominent 19th century South Carolina politician who became a major figure in efforts to keep the Senate from considering petitions to eliminate slavery and to exclude abolitionist literature from the mails.   Calhoun served as a U.S. senator from South Carolina from 1832-1843 and from 1845 to 1850.  

John Clarke (1609-1676), sometimes also spelled Clark, is one of the pioneers of religious freedom in America. He was influential in securing religious liberty in Rhode Island where he held a number of public offices, including that of legal clerk and lieutenant governor.   Clarke was born in Westhorpe, Suffock, England and received medical training

John C. Connell is an attorney who specializes in First Amendment law. He
is best known for successfully representing musician Simon Tam pro bono in
Matal v. Tam (2017).

John Courtney Murray a Jesuit priest, theologian, and advocate of
interfaith cooperation, was a lifelong supporter of the principles of the
First Amendment.

A prominent legal scholar, John Hart Ely contributed to First Amendment
jurisprudence. He argues against strict absolutism in interpreting the
Constitution.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1962) was the youngest man ever elected to the U.S. presidency.   Born in Massachusetts to a father who had served as an ambassador to Great Britain, Kennedy earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, served as a lieutenant in charge of a torpedo boat in World War II, and entered politics

Although he served as the first chief justice of the United States, John Jay (1745-1829) has been largely overshadowed by John Marshall, who served as the fourth chief. Although it does not appear that the Supreme Court voided any laws under the First Amendment while Jay was on the Supreme Court, he played a significant

Baptist preacher John Leland helped provide religious foundation for ideas
espoused by the Founders concerning the relationship between government and
religion.

The Englishman John Lilburne (1615–1657) was a prominent defender of
religious liberties and free speech and a celebrated political prisoner.

English philosopher John Locke’s ideas of natural law, religious
toleration, and the right to revolution proved essential to the American
Revolution and the U.S. Constitution.

Under John Marshall’s leadership, the Court expanded the role of the
national government and limited the reach of the First Amendment to actions
of the national government.

Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan I transformed himself over time
from being an advocate of slavery to becoming a strong defender of First
Amendment rights.

Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan II was an architect of First
Amendment jurisprudence in obscenity law, freedom of association,
expressive conduct, and offensive speech.

John Milton made an important contribution to the idea of free speech and
free press in a pamphlet, Areopagitica, published in response to a
restrictive printing ordinance.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens contributed mightily to First
Amendment jurisprudence and seemingly became more speech-protective in his
later years on the Court.

The trial of John Peter Zenger was one of the most important events in
shaping American thinking toward freedom of speech prior to and after the
adoption of the First Amendment.

John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States, a
legislator, and an attorney. He argued against the “gag rule” in Congress
that tabled petitions about slavery.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has had an indelible impact on the First
Amendment in his time on the Court. He has proven to be sensitive to First
Amendment concerns.

John Rutledge was appointed as an inaugural member of the Supreme Court by President George Washington. He was a strong defender of free speech.

John Seigenthaler was the longtime editor of The Tennessean in Nashville,
known for championing civil rights. He founded the First Amendment Center
at Vanderbilt University in 1991 and became a national leader in promoting
First Amendment values.

John Stuart Mill became a guiding light for individual liberty. Practical
applications of First Amendment principles often rest upon allusions to his
ideas.

John Tyler (1790-1862) was born and raised in Virginia, where he attended the College of William and Mary and read law. He was elected at an early age to the state’s House of Delegates. During the War of 1812, he organized a militia company to defend Richmond.   He served successively as a member of

John Wilkes was an Englishman who championed free expression and
individualism during the 18th century. He was prosecuted for seditious
libel and obscenity.

John Winthrop was an early Puritan leader who created the basis for
established religion that remained in place in Massachusetts until well
after adoption of the First Amendment.

John Witherspoon was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of
Independence and Articles of Confederation as well as serve at the New
Jersey convention to ratify the Constitution.

The Johnson Amendment was adopted in 1954, restricting tax-exempt churches
from participating in political campaigns or risk losing their tax-exempt
status. Some churches have complained the restriction inhibits their
religious expression.

Joseph Ignatius Breen, one of the most powerful people in Hollywood,
developed the moral guidelines that shaped the content of the films shown
in America for twenty years.

Joseph Forer, a civil liberties attorney, achieved prominence by
challenging the constitutionality of federal laws used to target suspected
members of the Communist Party.

Joseph Priestley was a notable figure of the 18th century Enlightenment. He
had a major influence on the First Amendment principles of religious
liberty in the U.S. Constitution.

Joseph Pulitzer came to the United States in 1864 as a restless Jewish immigrant from Hungary. He knew little English. Despite poor health and weak eyesight, he had contracted with a bounty hunter in Germany to be paid to fight for the North in the Civil War as a substitute for a draftee – something

Joseph L. Rauh Jr. was a renowned civil liberties lawyer who argued
numerous cases before the Supreme Court, including at least three that
dealt with First Amendment issues.

Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also
called the Mormon Church. Smith and his church suffered and perpetrated
First Amendment violations.

Justice Joseph Story was arguably the greatest scholar ever to serve on the
Supreme Court. His Court opinions and his writings reveal his perspective
on First Amendment issues.

The First Amendment gave Jews the opportunity to exercise their faith
freely. Yet, they have still faced challenges from those who perceive
America as a Christian nation.

To promote judicial impartiality, states have regulated judicial campaign
statements, but recent court decisions have granted such comments greater
First Amendment protection.

Judith P. Miller, a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist, went
to jail rather than testify before a federal grand jury about a
confidential source.

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, pled guilty in June 2024 to violating the U.S. Espionage Act in a conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified national defense documents. News organizations worried that the prosecution of Assange, who began publishing information in 2010, will have a chilling effect on journalists who report on national security issues.

Amid a politically tumultuous period, the University of Chicago in 1967 issued the Kalven Report, which laid down guidelines for a university in making pronouncements about controversial political issues. The report was named after the chair of the committee that developed it, Harry Kalven Jr., a noted First Amendment scholar and law professor.   In

Kenneth A. Paulson has led several national programs to increase
understanding of the First Amendment and its role in society. He is former
editor in chief of USA Today.

Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on June 30, 2022. She replaced Justice Stephen Breyer who had retired. Biden would likely have appointed her earlier had not Republicans rushed through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett in the waning days of the Trump Administration, even though they had

Kevin F. O’Neill is a law professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
who writes frequently on First Amendment issues. He oversaw First Amendment
cases at the ACLU of Ohio.

Recent years have witnessed the increased use of social media not only by adults but also by juveniles. Studies have suggested that excessive exposure to social media had led to increasing isolation, particularly among such juveniles.    In a number of high-profile cases, juveniles who have been catfished (subject to individuals misrepresenting their identity), doxed

Although some Supreme Court decisions have allowed prosecution of the Ku
Klux Klan for terrorist activity, others have affirmed the First Amendment
rights of Klan members.

Larry Flynt, controversial publisher of Hustler magazine, often claimed
First Amendment free speech protection when charged with obscenity and
pornography.

Laurence Tribe, a professor at Harvard Law School, is regarded as one of
the preeminent scholars in the field of constitutional law and First
Amendment scholarship.

Civil rights attorney Lawrence Speiser may be the only person who has
successfully represented himself before the Supreme Court in a First
Amendment case.

Billings Learned Hand served as a federal district and appellate judge and
had enormous influence on the law understanding in the United States,
specifically the First Amendment.

When evaluating whether a law infringes upon freedom of speech guaranteed
in the First Amendment, the Supreme Court has sometimes used a “least
restrictive means” test.

Lee C. Bollinger, a legal scholar of the First Amendment, is an advocate
for tolerance theory, which argues that broad acceptance for expression
will increase diversity of ideas.

The Supreme Court often uses the three-pronged Lemon test when it evaluates
whether a law or governmental activity violates the establishment clause of
the First Amendment.

Comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested numerous times due to alleged obscenity.
Through his legal struggles, Bruce brought his craft more First Amendment
protection.

Leo Pfeffer, one of the twentieth century’s most active litigators on
church-state issues, participated in several First Amendment cases before
the U.S. Supreme Court.

Leonard Boudin (1912–1989), a prominent civil liberties attorney, argued
many First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court including cases related
to free speech.

Leonard W. Levy was an influential scholar and historian whose works on the
Constitution and Bill of Rights have been cited in numerous First Amendment
cases.

Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. was conservative on matters of
crime and law enforcement but liberal on First Amendment matters concerning
separation of church and state.

Libel and slander lawsuits can have a chilling effect on free speech. The
First Amendment rights of free speech and free press often clash with the
interests served by libel laws.

The libel-proof plaintiff doctrine is a concept that insulates a defendant
from defamation liability for statements made about someone who has no good
reputation to protect.

The liberty model of the First Amendment, an alternative to the marketplace
of ideas, emphasizes that speech should be protected because of its value
to the individual.

One important form of symbolic speech and protest in the United States that began before the Revolutionary War and continued long after the adoption of the First Amendment was the erection of liberty poles.    Such poles have some association with Liberty Trees, like the elm near the Boston Commons where Patriots gathered in protest

Libraries protect the right to receive information, a concept in First
Amendment jurisprudence that can protect against some book banning and
Internet filtering.

Licensing laws that restrict First Amendment rights must not be based on
the content of the speech and can only regulate the time, place and manner
of the speech.

Lloyd Cutler (1917–2005) successfully argued three First Amendment cases
before the Supreme Court including the landmark case Buckley v. Valeo about
campaign contribution limits.

Loitering laws can have a chilling effect on First Amendment freedoms of
speech and assembly and have been ruled as unconstitutional even after
being rewritten in some cases.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis defended the First Amendment and
expressed that the best way to combat harmful speech is “more speech, not
forced silence.”

Louis Nizer (1902–1994) was a noted trial lawyer who successfully argued
two First Amendment cases involving film censorship before the Supreme
Court.

The Louisiana Ten Commandments case in which a federal judge stopped a state law requiring public schools to post the religious document in all classrooms could test the boundaries of a 2022 Supreme Court decision on separation of church and state.   In Roake v. Brumley (2024), Judge John W. deGravelles, who had been appointed

The constitutionality of loyalty oaths is part of the struggle between the
government’s regulation of threats to national security and the First
Amendment rights of citizens.

The sedition conviction of Luther Baldwin for drunken comments about
President John Adams stirred opposition to the Sedition Act of 1798’s
restrictions on First Amendment freedoms.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) was one of the most activist presidents of the 20th century. Born and raised in Texas, Johnson attended Southwest Texas State College and, after a brief time of teaching and military service, spent most of his life in elective office.   He served as a member of the U.S. House of

Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an atheist, filed several lawsuits that dealt with
First Amendment separation of church and state issues, including prayer in
public schools.

The Magna Carta is a series of concessions that English noblemen extracted
from King John I in 1215. The document remains an important foundation for
many American founding documents.

On March 8, 2025, officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested, detained and attempted to revoke the student visa and green card of Mahmoud Khalil.    Khalil, who has an American wife who was expecting a child, had become the face of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University calling for divestment of businesses in

Throughout U.S. history, the mail has played a crucial role in shaping
jurisprudence on free expression, but its impact on the First Amendment has
diminished in recent years.

The marketplace of ideas refers to the belief that the test of the truth or
acceptance of ideas depends on their competition with one another and not
on the opinion of a censor.

Martin Grabus is regarded as one of the top First Amendment
lawyer–litigators in the United States. He has participated in defamation
and intellectual property cases.

“Talk’s cheap.”  “You need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.” “Actions speak louder than words.”  These are all expressions used to convey the idea that action, not just words, can lead to change. This was certainly embodied by Martin Luther King Jr.,  whose life was dedicated to social change. His approach of

Law professor Martin H. Redish is one of the nation’s foremost authorities
on the First Amendment. He argued that commercial speech should have First
Amendment protection.

Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) was born and raised in New York. Although he was the first president who was born as a U.S. citizen, he is the only president who grew up speaking a language (Dutch) other than English.   He studied law, set up a practice with his half-brother and spent much of his

Before the First Amendment was adopted, Maryland passed the Toleration Act
of 1649, which was meant to ensure religious freedom for Christian settlers
of diverse persuasions.

Matthew Lyon was the first person to be prosecuted under the Sedition Act
of 1798. He challenged the Act on the grounds that it violated the First
Amendment.

One of America’s most important contributions to government is the written
constitution. The Mayflower Compact is the first constitution written in
the New World.

The term McCarthyism described the practice of publicly accusing government
employees of political disloyalty and using unsavory investigatory methods
to prosecute them.

Critics of ownership concentration in the news media business say that it
threatens the marketplace of ideas and poses a threat to First Amendment
freedoms.

To promote diversity of ideas under the First Amendment, the Supreme Court
has sometimes allowed news media organizations to have exemptions to
antitrust laws.

The Media Institute is a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization that
specializes in publications on First Amendment issues in the communications
arena.

The Media Law Resource Center is a nonprofit that was formed “to monitor
developments and promote First Amendment rights in the libel, privacy and
related legal fields.”

Melville Fuller served as the eighth chief justice of the Supreme Court. The Fuller Court is best known for upholding rights of big businesses, but it did consider cases that involved the First Amendment, including upholding a law restricting the U.S. mail from carrying certain advertisements and a citation against a Colorado newspaper publisher who had criticized a decision by the state’s Supreme Court. (Portrait of Fuller, public domain)

Melville Bernard Nimmer, an expert in copyright law and freedom of
expression, was a defender of the First Amendment in the Supreme Court case
Cohen v. California (1971).

Melvin L. Wulf is a constitutional lawyer whose special field of practice
is intellectual property. He also has extensive experience in other First
Amendment areas.

The free speech and freedom of association clauses of the First Amendment
generally prevent the government from requiring associations to disclose
their members’ names.

James Madison’s “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments”
argued for complete religious liberty and against government support of
religion in any form.

Michael W. McConnell is a scholar on issues relating to First Amendment
religion issues. He has argued against extreme views of separation of
church and state.

Experts believe the middle finger gesture does not rise to the legal
standard of obscenity or fighting words. However, they do believe students
can be punished for the gesture.

Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) was the last member of the Whig Party to serve as a U.S. president, which he did from 1850 to 1853.   Born in New York, Fillmore, who had arisen from humble circumstances. He did not attend college, but had become a lawyer and became interested in politics. He served as a

The Miller Test is the primary legal test for determining whether
expression constitutes obscenity. It is named after the Supreme Court’s
decision in Miller v. California (1973).

The ministerial exception shields churches from improper government
influence by barring legal claims against churches by employees with
religious functions. The line between ministers and others employees by the
church might not always be clear, but is believed to encompass the
employee’s function.

Appropriation is the unauthorized use of a person’s likeness for financial
gain. Although appropriation may involve speech, it is not protected by the
First Amendment.

Congress adopted the Morrill Act for the Suppression of Polygamy in
response to a perceived threat posed by polygamy, practiced by the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Morrison Waite, the seventh chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, participated in several cases in the late 19th century interpreting the First Amendment, including a landmark case in which Waite authored the opinion upholding a law prohibiting polygamy against a free exercise of religion challenge.

The First Amendment limits the degree to which governments can censor
movies. The Motion Picture Association of America uses a voluntary system
of movie ratings to inform parents.

Murray Gurfein was best known for his ruling as a district court judge in
the Pentagon Papers case, a clash between national security interests and
First Amendment rights.

First Amendment challenges to music have focused on claims that the lyrics
are obscene, that they incite violence, or that they are harmful to minors.

Must-carry rules require cable systems to carry local broadcast television
stations. Some must-carry rules have violated the First Amendment while
others have not.

The term “narrowly tailored” refers to laws regulating First Amendment
rights. These must be written to place as few restrictions as possible on
First Amendment liberties.

Nat Hentoff, a civil libertarian, jazz critic, and self-described
troublemaker, spent much of his career defending the First Amendment
against a variety of perceived threats.

Nathaniel Ward wrote the first law code of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
which is considered to be one of the most important works in American
constitutional history.

Some states as late as the 1940s prohibited musical desecration or
alteration of “The Star-Spangled Banner” national anthem. Such laws would
be considered unconstitutional today as a restriction of First Amendment
rights to free expression.

The National Coalition Against Censorship serves as a hub for groups and
individuals combating censorship. It focuses on three activities: action,
advocacy, and education.

The National Do Not Call Registry lists phone numbers of those who do not
wish to get unsolicited telemarketing calls. The list has been upheld
against First Amendment challenges.

It has been proposed that United States residents be required to carry
proof of identity, but critics of the idea argue that the proposal would
raise First Amendment concerns.

The National Prayer Breakfast attracts political and religious leaders from
around the nation and the world. Some worry that the event borders on
violation of the First Amendment.

The National Press Club, founded in 1908 and open to all who supply news,
has sought to keep First Amendment issues front and center in the public
eye.

Despite the First Amendment, perceived risks to national security have
prompted the government to restrict First Amendment freedoms throughout
U.S. history.

At times, U.S. governments have denied First Amendment rights to Native
Americans. Indian religious beliefs have sometimes posed dilemmas for the
application of such freedoms.

Natural law refers to laws of morality ascertainable through human reason.
In general, natural law, as a “higher” law, forms the foundation on which
the First Amendment rests.

The concept of natural rights has an important place in American political
thought as reflected in the Declaration of Independence, which used natural
rights to justify revolution.

While his record on the Supreme Court has yet to be determined, Justice
Neil Gorsuch showed sensitivity toward First Amendment issues while on the
court of appeals.

Neutral reportage protects from libel claims media that accurately and
objectively report newsworthy charges against public figures as part of an
ongoing controversy.

Even though the word neutrality does not appear in the Lemon test, many
have interpreted the test’s commands to mean that government must be
neutral in matters of religion.

Laws restricting speech are subject to strict scrutiny to ensure they are
neutral under the First Amendment. They can not discriminate against speech
the government disfavors.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press.  This freedom performs the important function of keeping public officials accountable. Presidents and other government officials have generally exercised the right to decide which news organizations to which they want to give  one-on-one interviews and whom they want to call upon at press conferences. Trump bars Associated

The Newseum is an “interactive museum of news” built by the Freedom Forum
to promote greater public appreciation for First Amendment freedoms and the
rich history of journalism.

The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 allowed competing newspapers to
enter into a joint operating agreement in which they shared revenue but
kept separate editorial staffs.

Dictionary creator Noah Webster did not support the adoption of the First
Amendment because he thought the Bill of Rights would give citizens the
power to act lawlessly.

The Noerr-Pennington doctrine is a judicially created defense against
certain business torts (wrongful acts) for activity that implicates the
First Amendment petition right.

The nonpreferentialist test for interpreting and applying the establishment
clause of the First Amendment comes close to accommodation and “positive
neutrality.”

Norman Dorsen was a leading civil liberties lawyer. He made many of his
contributions to First Amendment jurisprudence during his career at the
American Civil Liberties Union.

The Northwest Ordinance primarily created the Northwest Territory in 1789
and presaged several provisions of the Constitution and the First Amendment.

According to the Supreme Court, nude dancing, when performed before an
audience to convey feelings of eroticism, is expressive conduct triggering
First Amendment review.

Obscenity refers to a narrow category of pornography that violates
contemporary community standards and has no serious literary, artistic,
political or scientific value.

Oh! Calcutta!, the first Broadway show to display full frontal nudity,
opened in 1969. The play inflamed some public officials, leading to
censorship and First Amendment arguments.

The Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647, laid the basis for public schools in
America and also future First Amendment conflicts regarding religious acts
in public schools.

Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807) was the third chief justice of the United States. He was appointed by President George Washington and served from 1796 to 1800.   Ellsworth, from Connecticut, attended Yale and the College of New Jersey (today’s Princeton) and read law before becoming an attorney. He served as a member of the Continental Congress,

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was a civil libertarian who protected the
First Amendment from encroachments, particularly during and after World War
I.

On Liberty by British philosopher John Stuart Mill presents an influential
argument in favor of free speech, making it an inspiration for future First
Amendment theory.

Online harassment can include unwanted emails, texts and direct messages; blog posts; nonconsensual intimate photos and videos; doxxing; impersonation; and illegal hacking. Laws aimed at combatting such harassment that are overly broad in criminalizing speech have run into First Amendment problems.

Open meetings laws guarantee access by the public to meetings of governing
bodies. All states adopted such laws by 1976. Access to government meetings
is not required by the Constitution or First Amendment but are compatible
with the concept of an informed citizenry.

Original intent refers to the notion that the judiciary should interpret
the Constitution (including the First Amendment) in accordance with the
understanding of its framers.

Osmond K. Fraenkel was one of the leading civil liberties attorneys of the
20th century. He argued many First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court.

Overbreadth provides that a regulation of speech can sweep too broadly and
prohibit speech protected by the First Amendment as well as non-protected
speech.

Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts was known for protecting First
Amendment freedoms and wrote several landmark decisions regarding protected
free expression.

Pandering, when distributors or booksellers merchandise works in salacious
terms, is a First Amendment issue because of laws that ban mailing obscene
materials.

Panhandling is a form of solicitation. When municipalities regulate
panhandling — a form of speech — First Amendment rights of the poor and
dispossessed become an issue.

Legislation designed to control the intrusive activities of paparazzi
represents a collision between individual privacy and First Amendment free
press rights.

Courts have consistently ruled that private speech that takes place in
public in the form of a parade or march is constitutionally protected by
the First Amendment.

The First Amendment would protect a broad, but not unlimited, right for
parents to choose the names of their children based on parental rights over
education.

Patrick Henry was an opponent of the U.S. Constitution. His opposition
helped convince Federalists to agree to a bill of rights on the document,
which included the First Amendment.

Paul Abraham Freund, a law professor at Harvard University, played a
critical part in the movement to better protect the individual liberties of
the First Amendment.

Paul Murphy was an advocate of First Amendment freedoms and a leader in the
fields of civil liberties. He was known for studying the First Amendment in
World War I.

The PEN American Center annually awards those who fight for First Amendment
values and opposes the Patriot Act, even delivering a “press freedom
petition” to Congress.

The Pentagon Papers, classified documents that were leaked to the press,
became the subject of a major Supreme Court case regarding censorship and
First Amendment press freedom.

People for the American Way is a progressive advocacy group that has become
involved in First Amendment cases advocating for religious liberty and
separation of church and state.

Perjury is not protected by the First Amendment because it undermines the
ability of courts to obtain truthful testimony and to effectively
administer justice.

Peter Banta was a New Jersey-based attorney active in First Amendment law.
He represented a litany of leading media entities in his career, including
The New York Times Company.

Philip Furneaux (1726-1783) was an English dissenting minister who influenced American views on freedom of conscience. He supported Protestant Christians who did not conform to the rules of the Church of England.

The Pickering Connick test refers to a longstanding test in First Amendment
law used by courts to determine whether a public employer violated an
employee’s free-expression rights. The test considers whether a public
employee spoke on matters of public concern, and if the speech outweighed
the interest in a disruptive-free workplace.

Since Thornhill v. Alabama (1940), courts have held that picketing triggers
First Amendment review. Governments can restrict the time, place, and
manner of picketing.

A federal law that prohibits pickets in front of a judge’s home with the
intent of influencing the judge could be considered a reasonable time,
place and manner restriction under the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court has ruled that compelling schoolchildren to recite the
Pledge of Allegiance violates the First Amendment. The Court has not struck
“under God” from the pledge.

Political correctness is based on the belief that offensive speech and
behavior should be eliminated. Politically correct legislation can violate
the First Amendment.

Defending the integrity of elections is so important that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed laws that restrict speech, such as in Burson v. Freeman when limiting campaign speech near polling places. But the Supreme Court also has protected political speech against election-related laws it thought went too far, such as in McIntyre v. Ohio

Political parties enjoy significant protection under the First Amendment.
It is not always clear who is the “political party” and who can assert
First Amendment rights.

Political patronage is the hiring of a person to a government post based on
partisan loyalty. Some say that the practice penalizes First Amendment
rights of political association.

Political speech is the core type or category of speech that receives the greatest First Amendment protection.  While the text of the First Amendment makes no distinction among categories of speech, the U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged that not all types of speech are treated the same.   Political or ideological speech is at the

Polygamy is a practice in which a person is married to more than one person
at the same time. Polygamy raises issues under the free exercise clause of
the First Amendment.

A major concern of the Postal Service Act of 1792 was the delivery of newspapers. Early leaders believed newspapers would keep the public better informed and thus set low mailing rates for them. This differed from the British colonial system in which postmasters would give themselves a competitive advantage by printing and distributing newspapers through the mail and denying the same privilege to their competitors.

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart had a mixed record in First Amendment
cases but was often supportive of individual liberty in cases involving
speech and religion.

Many Americans are religious and seek to incorporate prayer into public
events. Whether such prayer is allowed under the First Amendment depends on
the nature of the event.

Prayer at public school events can involve three clauses of the First
Amendment: the establishment, the free exercise, and the free speech.

One way of solemnizing presidential inaugurations is to invite clergy members to offer prayers. A study of prayers at presidential inaugurations found similarities, including inviting individuals of different faiths and inviting clergy with political experience. One researcher says, however, that inauguration prayers have become less inclusive over time.

The preferred position doctrine creates a hierarchy of rights so that some
freedoms, such as those related to the First Amendment, receive greater
protection than others.

Whether a government school or office can force employees to use a person’s preferred gender pronouns has not reached the Supreme Court. Lower courts have been muddled on the issue, with some recognizing religious rights of employees, such as teachers, who have refused to use a student’s preferred pronouns.

The First Amendment appears to provide a special right for the press,
however the Supreme Court has taken a narrow view of the “press clause” and
held that the press does not have greater rights than those accorded to the
public in general. Some scholars have criticized this viewpoint and argued
that the press role of keeping the public informed calls for a different
interpretation.

All U.S. states have laws protecting certain communications under the
priest-penitent privilege. The First Amendment is often considered the
basis of such a privilege.

The Constitution framers were familiar with press licensing controls such
as England’s Printing Ordinance of 1643 when they decided to protect press
freedom in the First Amendment.

Prior restraint allows the government to review the content of printed
materials and prevent their publication. Prior restraint usually violates
the First Amendment.

Privacy generally refers to an individual’s right to seclusion or right to
be free from public interference. Often privacy claims clash with First
Amendment rights

The Supreme Court generally has rejected arguments that the First Amendment
requires private property owners to accommodate expressive speech by
others.

Under modern First Amendment jurisprudence profanity cannot categorically
be banned but can be regulated when it applies to categories such as
fighting words or true threats.

The professional speech doctrine is a concept used by lower courts in
recent years to define and often limit the free-speech rights of
professionals when rendering counsel.

In 2020, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia commissioned three groups of scholars to draft new versions of the U.S. Constitution, all of whom chose to reform rather than abolish the current document. Professors Robert George of Princeton University, Michael McConnell of Stanford University (a former federal circuit judge and frequent writer on the First

The Protestant Reformation appealed to the founders of America, and some of
its concepts of individualism and free expression of religion are
incorporated into the First Amendment.

Many municipalities have enacted ordinances limiting or banning targeted
protests in residential areas. The issue presents a clash between privacy
and freedom of expression.

The First Amendment creates lines between public and religious buildings.
The line is not clear because courts have accepted some civil religion in
public places.

Public employees have a First Amendment right to speak on matters of public
concern as long as the speech is not outweighed by an the interest in a
disruption-free workplace.

To promote First Amendment freedom of speech, libel plaintiffs who are
public figures or officials must show a publisher acted with actual malice
to collect damages.

The public forum doctrine is an analytical tool used in First Amendment
jurisprudence to determine the constitutionality of speech restrictions
implemented on government property.

Public nudity is typically banned as a matter of regulating morals. Only
recently has the Supreme Court considered public nudity in terms of First
Amendment freedom of expression.

Concerns about First Amendment rights led to the establishment of the
public radio system, in which nonprofit corporations maintain primary
control over the content of their shows.

American public television is premised on the idea that stations should be
independently owned and operated to further the full exercise of First
Amendment freedoms.

The framers of the Constitution would look to the Puritan era in history
for guidance when crafting the First Amendment rights for freedom of
religion.

Quakers were early advocates of religious freedom and have been at the
forefront in protecting and ensuring First Amendment religious liberty
rights and other civil liberties.

Under the qualified immunity doctrine, government officials could violate a
person’s First Amendment rights, but not face liability because the law was
not settled or known at the time the official engaged in such conduct.

The Quebec Act of 1774, in which the British Parliament provided for
religious freedom to its Canadian province, was a progenitor of religious
freedoms in the First Amendment

The Radio Act of 1912 for the first time gave the government control over
the broadcast spectrum, leading to First Amendment quandaries in later
years.

The Radio Act of 1927 created a commission to license broadcasters.
Underlying the act was the assumption that radio was expression protected
by the First Amendment.

The musical genre of rap, which often features a hard-core assessment of
inner city woes, has come under threats of censorship through the years in
a variety of contexts.

In two anti-Communist periods in the United States, known as Red Scares,
First Amendment rights providing for free expression and free association
were endangered.

Efforts to regulate political campaigns often involve competing First
Amendment concerns, forcing the courts to adjudicate which rights deserve
more protection.

The reindeer rule applies to an informal First Amendment principle that
arose from controversies over the public display of religious holiday
decorations.

Released time programs allow schoolchildren to use school hours for
religious instruction. Programs in which students are coerced into
attending violate the First Amendment.

Because the government funds charter schools, are they subject to the same
First Amendment restrictions as public schools on prayer and Bible readings?

The recognition and celebration of religious holidays by government can run
counter to the First Amendment prohibition of government endorsing a
particular religion.

Many early American states required public officeholders to take religious
oaths. In 1961, the Supreme Court said this requirement violated the First
Amendment.

The religious right movement began in the 1970s after Supreme Court
decisions in First Amendment cases that invalidated public prayer and Bible
readings in public schools.

The religious rights of pharmacists to refuse to fill a legal prescription
for emergency contraception, often known as a morning-after pill, has not
made it to the Supreme Court, but changes in abortion law could increase
that liklihood.

Before the First Amendment was applied to the states, there was a prominent
idea that witnesses in court trials could only testify if they believed in
God or the afterlife.

The idea behind reporter’s privilege is that journalists have a limited
First Amendment right not to be forced to reveal a confidential source or
information in court.

Retaliatory arrests refer to arrests by law enforcement officials against
persons in retaliation for those persons’ First Amendment free-expression
rights.

Many states have adopted retraction statutes that allow the press to reduce
liability if they publish a correction within a certain time period.
Because defamatory statements are not considered protected under the First
Amendment, retraction help mitigate potential damages from an editorial
mistake.

Under current First Amendment guidelines, any laws regulating revenge
pornography would have to be narrowly drawn and made in pursuit of a
“compelling state interest.”

Rhetorical hyperbole is a First Amendment-based doctrine that the Court has
used to provide protection to exaggerated, over-the-top speech in
defamation cases.

Richard Nixon’s conduct during his presidency typified executive abuse of
power, even threatening the freedoms of speech, press, and political
association.

Richard Allen Posner, one of the most influential jurists and legal
theorists in the United States today, has written numerous First Amendment
opinions as an appellate judge.

The application of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law
(RICO) raises First Amendment questions implicating the freedom of
association.

In a case involving a North Carolina congressman’s right to run for
reelection to office in 2022, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
considered his claim of amnesty, but not his First Amendment claims.

The right of publicity is a right to legal action, designed to protect the
names and likenesses of celebrities against unauthorized exploitation for
commercial purposes.

Although recognized in Europe, the right to be forgotten — forcing removal
of embarrassing information about an individual from the Internet — would
violate the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court has held that the Constitution protects the right to
learn and teach foreign languages. The Court said this right falls under
the penumbra of the First Amendment.

The United States Supreme Court has recognized that the right to receive
information and ideas flows from the First Amendment protection of free
speech.

The FCC’s right to respond and reply allowed those criticized on radio and
TV broadcasts time to share their viewpoint on air to foster First
Amendment diversity of viewpoints.

When the U.S. military is a party to cases centering on First Amendment
rights, the Supreme Court generally defers to the government’s interest and
discretion.

The First Amendment rights of prisoners have been sharply curtailed. When
analyzing prisoner speech claims, the Supreme Court has usually deferred to
prison administrators.

Public school students enjoy First Amendment protection based on the type
of expression and their age. Students do not shed their First Amendment
rights at the schoolhouse gate.

In American jurisprudence, public school teachers, as public employees, do
not forfeit all of their First Amendment rights to free expression when
they accept employment.

Judge Robert Bork, who served as solicitor general for President Nixon,
believed the First Amendment free speech protection only applied to
political speech.

Robert Carter successfully presented several First Amendment cases to the
Supreme Court related to the Civil Rights movement and freedom of
association and speech.

Robert Corn-Revere is a leading First Amendment attorney who has
represented college students in free speech cases battling censorship on
college campuses.

Robert Ingersoll was a sought-after lecturer in the 1800s and a passionate
defender of First Amendment rights. He particularly championed separation
of church and state.

Robert Jackson, a Supreme Court justice from 1941 to 1954, believed
strongly in separation of church and state and free speech protections
First Amendment.

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who gained notoriety for his explicit
images, was posthumously a central figure in a First Amendment clash over
art and obscenity.

Robert O’Neil (1934-2018) was an authority on First Amendment issues,
writing several books and amicus curiae briefs on First Amendment cases
that reached the Supreme Court. He also was the founding director of the
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

As an attorney, Robert Sack, now a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of
Appeals, defended the press in libel and other cases relating to First
Amendment freedoms.

Robert Shibley is a leading advocate for First Amendment rights on college
campuses and the executive director of Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education.

Some robocall laws enacted by states have been overturned on First
Amendment grounds by U.S. Circuit Courts, but the 8th Circuit upheld
Minnesota’s law in 2017.

Rodney Smolla is an influential First Amendment attorney and scholar who
has argued cases before the Supreme Court, including the Virginia
cross-burning case.

Roger B. Taney, the fifth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, is most known for the Dred Scott decision. In that ruling, Taney wrote that slaves were not citizens under the U.S. Constitution and the egalitarian language of the Declaration of Independence did not include Black people. Taney served 28 years on the court and died while the Civil War was ongoing.

Roger Baldwin formed the ACLU in 1920. During his 30-year tenure there, the
organization spurred many landmark cases upholding First Amendment freedoms.

Prior to the First Amendment, Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island,
believed separation of church and state was necessary to maintain the
integrity of the church.

Roman Catholics have been involved in First Amendment religious liberty
issues as well as controversies surrounding the separation of church and
state.

Transcendental and Romantic writers believed that government may not
interfere with freedom of expression. Some First Amendment court opinions
have roots in these movements.

Ronald Collins is a First Amendment scholar, author and advocate who has
written widely on First Amendment issues. He is currently editor of First
Amendment News.

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) served for two terms as U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. Born in Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College. He spent his early working life as a radio announcer and film actor, serving from 1947 to 1952 as president of the Screen Actors Guild.   He was governor of California from 1967

Roslyn Litman successfully argued before the Supreme Court that religious
displays at a county courthouse violated the establishment clause of the
First Amendment.

Roy Cohn is best known for his work as the chief counsel to Sen. Joseph
McCarthy, whose interrogations of alleged communists had a chilling effect
on First Amendment freedoms.

Roy Moore was a controversial chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court
who gained notoriety for his conservative stances about the First Amendment
issue of religious liberty.

The second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has
interpreted the First Amendment to provide for a high degree of separation
of church and state.

Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, a former Whig who became a Republican, served a single term in the presidential office from 1877 to 1881. He followed Ulysses S. Grant and was succeeded by James A. Garfield.   A graduate of Harvard Law School, Hayes had risen to the rank of brigadier general in the Union

The Rutherford Institute is concerned with First Amendment freedom and
provides legal help to those who believe their constitutional rights have
been violated.

Under the safety valve theory of the First Amendment theory, the ability of
citizens to freely protest about government deters them from undertaking
violent action.

The Salem witch trials are a testament to the importance of due process in
protecting individuals against false accusations, which are not protected
by the First Amendment.

As the sixth chief justice of the United States, Salmon Chase sought for an interpretation to apply the Bill of Rights protections, including First Amendment protections, against actions by states.

Some states have laws that allow adoption agencies to refuse adoption
services to same-sex couples, raising questions about First Amendment
religious rights.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has shown some sensitivity to religious
liberty in First Amendment cases but his record on free speech cases has
been troubling.

Samuel Chase (1741-1811) was an important American founder and U.S. Supreme Court justice from Maryland. He is the only Supreme Court justice to have been impeached, though not convicted. The House of Representatives had impeached him for his partisanship during sedition trials over which he presided.   After reading law, Chase established a legal practice

Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court,
was often a key swing vote known for her opinions in the area of religious
liberty.

Although it frequently comes under legal attack, satire, which humorously
mocks and scorns individuals and political practices, is protected speech
under the First Amendment.

The scarcity rationale is a legal reasoning that provides for more
government regulation and limited recognition of First Amendment freedoms
for broadcasters.

Since school violence has become a national issue, courts have had to
determine whether student speech is a ‘true threat’ or protected by the
First Amendment.

The Supreme Court has upheld school voucher programs, saying if they are
administered without favoring one religion over another, they do not
violate the First Amendment.

New religions such as Scientology often pose special problems for the legal
system and the First Amendment. The religion has had run-ins with the
federal government and IRS.

Although Tennessee upheld a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution after
the Scopes Monkey Trial, the Supreme Court later said a similar law
violated the First Amendment.

The secondary effects doctrine is used when content-based laws are aimed at
the secondary effects of protected expression. The laws can more easily
pass First Amendment scrutiny.

The First Amendment’s free speech guarantees have sometimes been used to
challenge Securities and Exchange Commission regulations of communications
about securities.

The clash over the Sedition Act of 1798, designed to deal with threats in
the “quasi-war” with France, yielded the first sustained debate over the
meaning of the First Amendment.

The Sedition Act of 1918 curtailed the free-speech rights of U.S. citizens
during World War I. The law overstepped the bounds of First Amendment
freedoms.

Cases involving the First Amendment and seditious libel, statements
intended to provoke dissatisfaction with the government, arose during
several eras in American history.

The self-government rationale justifies free speech protections of the
First Amendment by reasoning that self-government depends on a free and
robust democratic dialogue.

Because of their beliefs, including that Saturday is the Sabbath, members
of the Seventh-day Adventist Church have been plaintiffs in many First
Amendment religious liberty cases.

The creation of a hostile, intimidating work environment through sexual
comments can constitute a type of sexual harassment that may implicate
First Amendment freedom of speech.

Although the Supreme Court hasn’t recognized a First Amendment privilege
for journalists to refuse to reveal their sources to a grand jury, most
states have enacted shield laws.

The Sims Act, which Congress adopted in 1912 and did not repeal until 1940, limited the interstate transportation of films of professional boxing fights.    The law was drafted largely in reaction to the distribution of films of the first so-called “Fight of the Century,” which had taken place in Reno, Nevada, on July 4,

A SLAPP suit is a civil claimed filed against an individual or organization
for exercising their First Amendment right of petition about an issue of
public concern.

The Smith Act of 1940 has been upheld against First Amendment challenges.
The Act forbade any attempts to advocate for the violent destruction of the
U.S. government.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour led to discussions of First Amendment
free speech as it was regularly censored by CBS. The FCC refused to
intervene.

Snake handling is a religious ritual practiced by a small number of
Protestant churches. Laws against the practice have been upheld against
First Amendment challenges.

After an unsuccessful challenge, scholars have debated whether presidents
repeating the words “so help me God” when they take their oath of office
violates the First Amendment.

Though they are private businesses and not government entities, U.S. social media platforms have nonetheless been at the center of a number of free speech disputes.   Social media is a method of internet-based communication in which users create communities and share information, videos and personal messages with each other. Some of the most popular

Son of Sam laws prohibit criminals from profiting from media about their
crimes. The Supreme Court overturned New York’s Son of Sam law as violating
the First Amendment.

Since her appointment to the Supreme Court in 2009, Justice Sonia Sotomayor
generally has been a consistent defender of First Amendment values on the
bench.

Congress is under growing pressure to regulate spam in much the same way it
regulates telemarketing, but regulation of spam raises First Amendment free
speech issues.

Specialty license plates have been challenged as discriminatory, but the
Court has said the plates are government speech and immune from First
Amendment challenges.

The speech and debate clause of the Constitution is more limited than the
First Amendment. Only legislative speech by Congress members is protected
from lawsuits under the clause.

Under the Spence Test, used to determine whether expressive conduct is
protected by the First Amendment, such conduct must have an intended
message, likely to be understood.

Many vice presidents of the United States stay in the background and out of the limelight, but not unlike what he had done for President Dwight Eisenhower, President Richard M. Nixon’s vice president, Spiro T. Agnew, often played the role of an attack dog, mobilizing support for the president with his rhetoric.     Agnew,

Sports logos and mascots that may be offensive to Native Americans, African
Americans, or other racial and ethnic groups are generally protected by the
First Amendment.

St. George Tucker (1752-1827) was a Bermuda-born Virginian who attended the College of William and Mary, studied law under George Wythe, gained financial independence, fought in the Revolutionary War, and served as a law professor at William and Mary. He then served both as a judge in Virginia’s trial and appellate courts from 1788 to

The violent aftermath of the Stamp Act, which taxed on colonial papers and
official documents, influenced the Constitution framers to add safeguards
like the First Amendment.

Stanley Fleishman was a leading First Amendment attorney who appeared
before the Supreme Court to argue several obscenity cases despite the
crippling effects of polio.

Stanley F. Reed was a Supreme Court justice from 1938-1957. He wrote
several First Amendment opinions, in which he often sided with the
government in restricting speech.

The term star chamber refers pejoratively to any secret meeting held by a
judicial body. The First Amendment supports the right of the public to
attend criminal trials.

Multiple states have enacted new laws since 2021 that have lead to book challenges and bans in K-12 schools. Supporters say the laws help parents exercise control over educational material for their children; opponents present arguments based on rights protected in the First Amendment, including the right to receive information and ideas. Other states have reacted by passing laws banning book bans.

Stephen Barnett was a law professor at the University of California,
Berkeley known for his passion for the First Amendment and his fearlessness
in combatting government secrecy.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer generally decides First Amendment
cases pragmatically rather than on the basis of rigid ideology, making his
votes more difficult to predict.

Steven H. Swander was a Texas-based First Amendment attorney known for his
passion for free speech. He was the president of the First Amendment
Lawyers Association.

A federal judge blocked Florida’s Stop W.O.K.E. Act saying that it violates
the First Amendment by limiting professors at state schools from expressing
certain viewpoints related to race, sex and country of origin when relevant
to the curriculum.

Strict scrutiny is the highest form of review that courts use to evaluate
the constitutionality of laws. A law that restricts freedom of speech or
religion must achieve a compelling government interest in the least
restrictive way possible.

The Supreme Court has ruled that under the First Amendment, decisions about
how to use student activity fees on college campuses must be viewpoint
neutral.

The Student Press Law Center is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to
defending the First Amendment rights of high school and college journalists.

The civil activism of Students for a Democratic Society, a radical youth
group, frequently led to the exercise of First Amendment freedoms in
conflict with government officials.

The substantial disruption test is the standard developed by the Supreme
Court to determine when public school officials may discipline students for
their expression.

A substantial governmental interest, more than a legitimate interest but
less than a compelling interest, is used in intermediate scrutiny First
Amendment cases.

The substantial truth doctrine, stemming from the First Amendment, allows
individuals to avoid liability in libel claims if the gist of the statement
was substantially true.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1961 that while Sunday blue laws may have
religious origins, they do not violate the First Amendment’s establishment
clause.

Before the First Amendment was applied to the states, Christian Sabbath
advocates attacked Sunday mail delivery, saying states should regulate
their own religious affairs.

Interception of private communications via electronic surveillance raises
First Amendment concerns for the chilling effect it can have on free speech.

Swatting is the act of making fake 911 calls to prompt police to send a
SWAT team to a person the caller wants to harass. The First Amendment would
likely not protect swatting.

Symbolic speech consists of nonverbal, nonwritten forms of communication.
It is generally protected by the First Amendment unless it causes a
specific, direct threat.

The Taft-Hartley Act addressed appropriate forms of symbolic speech, as
well as acceptable and unacceptable regulation of the right to association
granted in the First Amendment.

Tattoos implicate the First Amendment because many municipalities have
sought to impose restrictions on tattooing. Courts have decided tattooing
is protected expressive conduct.

Newspaper taxation controversies that have emerged since the writing of the
First Amendment have largely focused on taxation used to penalize certain
publications.

Through tax exemptions, legislatures have sought to encourage effects of
religious organizations while avoiding First Amendment–based concerns of
excessive government entanglement.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 significantly altered federal
communications policy. Parts of the Act have been struck down for violating
the First Amendment.

Telemarketing implicates the First Amendment, which has not been viewed as
an absolute bar to regulation. Many regulations have passed First Amendment
review.

Legal challenges have been brought against public display of the
Ten Commandments for violating establishment clause of the First Amendment.

Much like the Louisiana legislature adopted a law to post the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms, the Texas state school board has opened its public school classrooms for the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum. This program, which is widely interpreted as favoring Christianity, includes teachings by Jesus, stories such as the parable of the prodigal

Attempts to block the controversial racist film The Birth of a Nation were
common, but there were no First Amendment challenges to the censorship
attempts.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most controversial novels in recent
U.S. history. Schools have banned and restricted the book for its profanity
and sexual content.

Censors have repeatedly tried to remove The Chocolate War from library
shelves, but have been stymied by First Amendment–based rights of
intellectual freedom and the right to read.

The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence was the first book to be censored by
the government prior to publication. The courts said national security
concerns trumped First Amendment rights.

The Devil in Miss Jones was key in the adult film industry’s quest to be
protected by the First Amendment rather than as pornography, which can be
deemed obscene.

While conservative Christian groups denounced the controversial film The
Last Temptation of Christ, Universal Studios publicly defended it as a
matter of First Amendment rights.

In the 1847 Ritchie Affair, the U.S. Senate revoked floor privileges its official printer Thomas Ritchie who also was editor of a partisan newspaper after he published an article suggesting a senator was on the side of Mexico in the Mexican-American War. Although the Ritchie affair was short-lived, it raised significant issues about freedom of the press, including free speech during wartime and congressional pressure on political reporting.

“Woke” refers to being aware of the society around you and speaking up for needed change or against perceived injustice. The word suggests someone who has been oblivious to social issues, but then awakens to see the world differently. Tools to effect change would include the First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, petition and assembly.  

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was born to a wealthy family in New York. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard and studied law at Columbia, but he never embraced legal technicalities and spent most of his life in politics.   He was elected to the New York Assembly, was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as a

Theodore Schroeder a lawyer and prolific writer on free expression rights
granted by the First Amendment, was one of the founders and long-time
secretary of the Free Speech League.

Thomas Bowdler edited Shakespeare’s plays to ensure that they were
family-friendly. Bowdler focused his efforts on revising sexual references
and blasphemy.

Thomas Cooley was a prominent jurist and legal writer during the second
half of the nineteenth century who strongly defended property rights and
First Amendment freedoms.

Thomas Emerson was arguably the foremost First Amendment scholar of his
generation. Emerson’s book on free speech remains one of the seminal works
in First Amendment history.

Thomas C. Goldstein has argued more than 15 cases before the high court,
including some First Amendment cases. He also started the Supreme Court of
the United States Blog.

In 1612, just a year after the publication of the King James Version of the Bible in English, Baptist minister Thomas Helwys published “A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity” which has come to be known as the first exposition in English of the notion of freedom of conscience or religious liberty.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third
President of the United States, perpetuated the American ideals of freedom
of speech, press, and conscience.

Thomas Paine is best remembered as the author of Common Sense a critique of
King George III that called for American independence. His writings were
misunderstood in his day.

Justice Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American to serve on the
Supreme Court. He consistently championed First Amendment and other
individual rights.

It’s no exaggeration to use the term “exploding growth” if you’re referring to TikTok, a social media, content-sharing platform that has gone from zero to more than 2.5 billion worldwide users, including an estimated 170 million or more in the United States, in less than six years.   The platform showcases short-form user videos. While

The Tillman Act of 1907, the first federal effort to regulate campaign
finance in U.S. elections, banned corporations from expending treasury
money to influence a federal election.

Time, place and manner restrictions are content-neutral limitations imposed
by the government on expressive activity. These restrictions do not usually
violate the First Amendment.

The history of Times Square, known for its crowded streets and tourists,
reflects the momentous changes of the past century, including battles over
First Amendment freedoms.

Tipper Gore led a successful fight to have parental warning labels affixed
to record albums that contained explicit lyrics. Critics said her efforts
violated the First Amendment.

As tobacco companies have learned, when making statements to the public
about products, there are limits to the free speech protections afforded
under the First Amendment.

One premise underlying First Amendment jurisprudence is the tolerance
theory — the belief that promoting expressive freedoms will make
individuals more open to ideas.

Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark is probably best known in First
Amendment jurisprudence for his measured opinion in Abington School
District v. Schempp (1963).

The religious clauses of the First Amendment raise the issue of whether
individuals should be allowed to sue religious entities for similar tort
damages.

Trademarks are a form of intellectual property protection accorded to particular messages, slogans, brands, designs, or other types of expression.  The primary federal trademark law, called the Lanham Act, defines a trademark as “any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof” that a person uses “to identify and distinguish his or her goods

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees a number of important rights, which many Americans regard as inherent in the ideas of human dignity and equality. These freedoms are much wider than those in some other countries whose rulers subordinate personal freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition to national unity or ideology. 

In 1835, Reuben Crandall, was prosecuted for seditious libel for possessing
abolitionist literature by the author of The Star-Spangled Banner, Francis
Scott Key.

Truckers have boycotted coming into the U.S., causing supply chain issues,
over a requirement that they get vaccinated to cross the U.S./Canada
border. Their protests are probably protected by the First Amendment.

A true threat is a statement meant to frighten people into believing they will be seriously harmed by the speaker. True threats are not protected by the First Amendment.

Donald J. Trump entered his second nonconsecutive presidential term determined to make an immediate impact. To this end, he signed numerous executive orders on his first day of office, the same day he pardoned those who had been charged and or convicted for their involvement in the attacks of Jan. 6, 2021, on the U.S.

Although the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees basic freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition, and [by implication] association, such provisions are rarely self-enforcing. To a large extent, they rely on the ability of individuals and institutions to challenge threats to these rights in courts. That is one reason that so many entries

Tunis Wortman authored A Treatise Concerning Political Enquiry, and the
Liberty of the Press in 1800. It attempted to portray freedom of the press
as an engine for human progress.

In what may be the only case in which a filmmaker has been put in prison for a patriotic American film, Robert Goldstein was sentenced to 10 years in 1917 for violating the Espionage Act. The California judge reasoned that Goldstein’s negative depiction of Great Britain in “The Spirit of ’76” could stir up hatred against the then-WWI ally and hurt the war effort.

The book Ulysses led to an obscenity trial in 1933 in which a district
judge, addressing First Amendment freedom of expression, refused to declare
the book obscene.

Ulysses (born Hiram) S. Grant (1822-1885) was born in Ohio to the family of a tanner. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where, because of a paperwork mistake, his name was changed from Hiram to Ulysses and he became known as U.S. Grant.   After resigning from the Army in 1854 and

The unconstitutional conditions doctrine is encountered most often in First
Amendment cases involving government contracts that restrict the
contractor’s freedom to speak.

The lack of a formal creed in Unitarian Universalism has led some critics
to say it lacks religious content and should not be afforded protection
under the First Amendment.

Author and muckraker Upton Sinclair is better known for his novels. But he was once arrested and jailed in Los Angeles in 1923 after trying to read the First Amendment in a public place in protest of mass arrests of striking dockworkers.

The Patriot Act, passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has been
criticized for incursions into Americans’ civil liberties and First
Amendment rights of association.

Courts in the United States give particular scrutiny to vague laws relative
to First Amendment issues because of their possible chilling effect on
protected rights.

U.S. relations with Vatican City have stirred concerns among those who fear
that recognition of the city-state could violate the First Amendment’s
separation of church and state.

Victor Rabinowitz, an attorney known for his passionate defense of
individual liberties, participated in numerous high-profile First Amendment
cases throughout his legal career.

The Supreme Court has said that video games are entitled to First Amendment
protection, invalidating laws that try to limit the access of minors to
violent video games.

The Vietnam War quickly became the focus of symbolic speech and major
protests that resulted in increased government attempts to limit First
Amendment protections.

Viewpoint discrimination occurs when the government singles out a
particular opinion or perspective on that subject matter for treatment
unlike that given to other viewpoints.

First Amendment scholar and theorist Vincent Blasi is best known for his
“checking value” theory of the free speech and free press clauses of the
First Amendment.

The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 were Democratic-Republican
responses to the Alien and Sedition Acts passed earlier that same year by a
Federalist-dominated Congress.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights outlined rights similar to those later
incorporated into the U.S. Bill of Rights, including some similar to the
First Amendment.

James Madison’s Report of 1800 argued for full freedom of speech and press
as indispensable checks on officeholders under a republican form of
government.

The 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was the driving force
behind the religious clauses of the First Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution, ratified in 1791.

Voltaire was a French author and philosopher of the Enlightenment period
who was an inspiration to those on both sides of the Atlantic interested in
free inquiry and secularism.

The First Amendment freedoms of press, speech, petition and assembly are all designed to encourage citizen participation in democracy and hold government officials accountable. Yet the First Amendment never cites the right to vote, the ultimate check on government corruption and incompetence. Voting is instead a process managed primarily by 50 different state legislatures. If

The origin of “wall of separation” came from Thomas Jefferson who used the
phrase to reflect his understanding of the First Amendment’s religion
clauses.

Walter Pollak was a leading civil rights attorney in the 1920s. He
represented American Communists Benjamin Gitlow and Charlotte Whitney in
First Amendment cases.

Many defended the First Amendment academic freedom of Professor Ward
Churchill after his essay asserting that U.S. foreign policies had incited
the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Chief Justice Warren Burger introduced the Lemon test for determining
whether government actions violated the establishment clause of the First
Amendment.

Warren G. Harding served as the nation’s 29th president from 1921 until his death in 1923. His presidency followed after Woodrow Wilson’s with a promise of restoring “normalcy” after World War I. He is usually regarded as one of the least effective individuals to hold the presidency.   Born in 1865 and raised in Ohio,

The Watts factors refers to three factors the Supreme Court identified in
its true-threat decision to distinguish between speech protected by the
First Amendment and a true threat.

The First Amendment-related issue of whistleblowing, exposing illegal
conduct that violates norms of accountability, has been protected by
federal and state law.

Wicca is a minority Neo-Pagan religion of relatively recent origins that
was recognized as a religion protected under the First Amendment by a
circuit court in 1986.

William Benbow (1784-1864) was a British champion of press freedoms found
in the First Amendment of the American Constitution. He was convicted of
seditious libel three times.

William Blackstone’s treatise on English law outlined principles of liberty that were later the foundations of the First Amendment. However, his views on press freedom were more limited than viewed in America.

William Bollan, a British-educated lawyer, spent much of his adult life serving as Massachusetts agent to London. He had arrived in Massachusetts in about 1740. He married the daughter of its governor and later became the colony’s advocate-general. Bollan was often caught up in controversy as the relationship between Massachusetts and Britain deteriorated as the

Supreme Court Justice William Brennan Jr. was an outspoken defender of the
First Amendment freedoms of speech and the press against threats of
government restriction.

Justice William O. Douglas was one of the Court’s most controversial
members as well as one of its most passionate defenders of individual
freedoms and First Amendment rights.

William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) was one of the leading figures in early 19th century liberal Christianity who celebrated the rights articulated in the First Amendment.    His defense of exercising such rights even during times of war and involving controversial subjects is especially noteworthy. One scholar has observed that Channing “was, above all, a civil

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was the first representative of the Whig Party to be elected as president and served the shortest time of any U.S. president after dying of natural causes 31 days after his inauguration.   Born to an aristocratic family in Virginia (his father, Benjamin Harrison, had signed the Declaration of Independence), Harrison

William Howard Taft is the only person to have served as both President and
then chief justice of the United States. His Court began to apply the First
Amendment to the states.

William Jefferson Clinton, who was born in 1946, served two terms as U.S. president from 1993 to 2001.   Born in Hope, Arkansas, Clinton attended Georgetown University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and earned his law degree at Yale, where he met and later married Hillary Rodham. After becoming a law professor at the

William Jennings Bryan’s defense of Christian fundamentalism in the Scopes
monkey trial clashed with the First Amendment’s prohibition of state
sponsorship of religion.

William Kunstler (1919-1995), who won two First Amendment disputes before
the Supreme Court, is perhaps best known for his defense in the Chicago
Seven case.

William McKinley (1943-1901) was born in Ohio and attended Allegheny College and Mount Union College before serving in the Union Army during the Civil War where he achieved the rank of brevet major.    After spending about a year at the Albany Law School and studying with an attorney, McKinley began practicing law in Ohio.

William Penn (1644-1718), founder of Pennsylvania, promoted principles of
freedom that helped lay the framework for First Amendment religious liberty.

Supreme Court Associate and Chief Justice William Rehnquist was not known
as a defender of First Amendment rights, but he protective of some aspects
of the amendment.

Although the idea of separating church and state is most frequently attributed to Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island, and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who worked to adopt the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom that disestablished the Episcopal Church in Virginia, they had the support of many others. William Tennent III (1740-1777) was among

The Wireless Ship Act of 1910 was the United States’ first effort to
regulate radio traffic, but the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 revealed
shortcomings in the law.

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was one of the more consequential presidents of the 20th century, serving as president from 1913 to 1921, a period that included World War I.   Born in Virginia to the family of a Presbyterian minister and raised in the South, Wilson earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, briefly practiced law

The Workplace Religious Freedom Act would mandate accommodation of
religious beliefs in the workplace. The legislation, introduced in 1999,
has not yet passed.

Cases challenging the Espionage Act, used in World War I to prosecute those
who objected to the war, laid the foundation for modern interpretation of
the First Amendment.

During World War II, the Supreme Court began to apply the clear and present
danger standard of First Amendment protection to dissident political speech.

Yard signs are a protected form of free expression under First Amendment jurisprudence.  City officials can place reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on yard signs, but flat bans on yard signs are unconstitutional.    The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a flat ban on yard signs in City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994).   The

Yellow journalism, sensationalistic or biased stories that newspapers
present as objective truth, was created by William Randolph Hearst and
Joseph Pulitzer.

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was born in Virginia, largely raised in Kentucky, and claimed Louisiana as home. He spent most of his life in the U.S. Army where he became a major general and hero of the Mexican-American War.   He was elected president as a Whig in the election of 1848, with Millard Fillmore as

Zechariah Chafee Jr. achieved prominence during World War I and its
aftermath, when he argued forcefully for broader protection of free speech
rights.

While land-use zoning generally does not raise First Amendment issues, a
government imposing controls to prevent certain businesses from operating
may violate free speech rights.