First Amendment Timeline

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

This First Amendment timeline includes significant historical events, court cases, and ideas that have shaped our constitutional First Amendment jurisprudence.

Pre-First Amendment in England's American colonies

1607 - Colonization begins in Virginia, which will firmly establish the Anglican Church, or the Church of England, as the colony’s compulsory religion.

1619 - The first African American slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia. Years later, slavery divides the country, leading to the Civil War and restrictions on speech promoting the abolition to try to stem the anti-slavery sentiment.

1620 - The Pilgrims land at Massachusetts and write the Mayflower Compact, the first known constitution to be written in the New World. The signatories to the Mayflower Compact pledged to “covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation.”

1628 - The Petition of Right is a statement of the objectives of the 1628 English legal-reform movement. It leads to civil war and the deposing of King Charles I in 1649. This important document sets out the rights and liberties of the common man as opposed to the prerogatives of the crown and expresses many of the ideals that later lead to the American Revolution.

1641 - The Massachusetts General Court formally adopts the first broad statement of American liberties, the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. The document includes a right to petition and a statement about due process. England abolishes the notorious Star Chamber, which had prosecuted individuals for libeling the king.

1643 - The English Parliament establishes a restrictive printing ordinance. The ordinance required authors to get prior approval from an official licenser before publication of printed materials.

1644 - Defying the printing ordinance, John Milton anonymously publishes the Areopagitica, a pamphlet to persuade English Parliament to oppose the restrictive printing ordinance. Many scholars say this is the first expression of the concept of a free press in the English-speaking world. Milton argued that the benefits of a vigorous public debate far outweigh the dangers to society of unregulated public discourse — a theory that still has currency today. 

1649 - The province of Maryland adopts the Maryland Toleration Act, in an attempt to ensure religious freedom for Roman Catholics settling in  America. Written by Lord Baltimore of Maryland, it included the first known use of the phrase “free exercise, ” a term later used to protect religious freedom in the First Amendment. The law also made it a crime to blaspheme God, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, or the early apostles and evangelists. It also forbade one resident from referring to another’s religion in a disparaging way and provided for honoring the Sabbath.

1660 - John Bunyan, who later would write Pilgrim’s Progress, begins 12 years of intermittent imprisonment in England for his preaching and for holding illegal religious meetings. 

1663 - The Charter of Rhode Island, a decree from King Charles II of England, grants the colony freedom to govern itself and guarantees religious freedom.

1670 - William Penn publishes “The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience Once More Debated & Defended,” a masterful and thorough explanation that conscience is a profoundly sacred right, even more critical than religious beliefs. William Penn and William Mead are tried in England for street preaching.

1672 - The British Test Act restricts public offices to Anglicans, out of a fear of subversion by Protestants, whose numbers and influence continue to grow.

1687 - A Declaration of Indulgence, protecting the rights of Catholics and Protestant dissenters to worship, is issued by James II of England. 

1688 - The Glorious Revolution deposes James II in favor of William and Mary. The Toleration Act ends British persecution of Protestant dissenters but does not disestablish the Anglican Church.

1689 - The English Bill of Rights recognizes the rights of Protestants to worship.  John Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration is published. It provides the philosophical basis for George Mason’s proposed Article Sixteen of the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, which deals with religion. Mason’s proposal provides that “all Men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion.”

1692 - The Salem Witch Trials take place in the Massachusetts colony. The trials led to the hanging of 19 individuals who refused to admit that they practiced witchcraft and one person who was pressed to death. During the trials, the accused were slandered with little recourse and denied rights that should have been granted under English common law.

1695 - John Locke publishes The Reasonableness of Christianity. 

1708 - Connecticut allows “full liberty of worship” to Anglicans and Baptists under the first known dissenter statute. 

1735 - John Peter Zenger, a New York publisher, is tried for libel after publishing criticism of the Royal Governor of New York. Zenger is defended by Andrew Hamilton and acquitted by a jury His trial establishes the principle that truth is a defense to libel and that a jury may determine whether a publication is defamatory or seditious.

1744 - Elisha Williams, a Yale professor, pastor and member of the Connecticut General Assembly, writes a pamphlet that pleads for liberty of conscience in religious affairs, and states that everyone has the right to free thought, conscience and religion.  The pamphlet was in response to a Connecticut law that prohibited ministers from delivering sermons outside their own parishes without invitations from established clergy, among other regulations of ecclesiastical regulations.

1751 - James Madison, who will eventually propose what will become the First Amendment, is born.

1758 - Jonathan Edwards, an important clergyman during the Great Awakening, dies. The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals in early America led by evangelical Protestant ministers.

1762 - John Wilkes begins publishing the North Briton, which will lead to his expulsion from the British Parliament for the insinuations his journal promotes in regard to the monarchy.

1765 - The Stamp Act, a tax on all papers and official documents, is imposed on the American colonies by the English in an effort to offset expenses incurred in recent struggles against France and Spain. 

1771 - The State of Virginia jails 50 Baptist worshipers for preaching the Gospel contrary to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

1774 - Eighteen Baptists are jailed in Massachusetts for refusing to pay taxes that support the Congregational church. After defeating Spain and France in a slew of armed conflicts, Parliament pass the Quebec Act, which  grants religious freedom to French-speaking Catholics in Canada, to the offense of Protestants in the American colonies.  

1776 - Virginia’s House of Burgesses passes the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The Virginia Declaration is the first bill of rights to be included in a state constitution in America. The Continental Congress adopt the final draft of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. 

1777 - Thomas Jefferson completes his first draft of a Virginia statute for religious freedom, which states: “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.” The statute (adopted in 1786) is considered one of the most important documents in early U.S. religious history. It marked the end of a 10-year struggle for the separation of church and state in Virginia, and it was the driving force behind the religious clauses of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

1781 - The Articles of Confederation, which vests primary power in the states, is ratified.

1785 - James Madison writes the "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments", a document arguing for complete religious liberty and against any government support of a religion.  

1786 - Virginia adopts its Statute for Religious Freedom, disestablishing the Anglican Church as the official church and prohibits harassment based on religious differences. 

1787-1788 - Originally published in New York newspapers as The Federalist and widely reprinted in newspapers throughout the U.S., The Federalist Papers are a unique collection of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay urging ratification of the Constitution. In Federalist No. 84,  Hamilton writes on the subject of the liberty of the press, declaring that “the liberty of the press shall be inviolably preserved.”

1787 - The Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia and, on Sept. 17, adopts a U.S. Constitution, which is then submitted to the states for ratification. The constitution includes a provision against test oaths for federal officeholders and allows individuals to affirm rather than to swear oaths, but makes no specific mention of God.  Congress also passes the Northwest Ordinance. Though primarily a law establishing government guidelines for colonization of new territory, it also provides that “religion, morality and knowledge being necessary also to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” 

1788 - Most of the 13 states hold conventions to ratify the Constitution. Anti-Federalists object to the absence of a bill of rights, while Federalists argue for the creation of a stronger national government.  The Constitution is officially ratified by the states on June 21, 1788. 

1789 - George Washington becomes the first president of the United States.  James Madison proposes a bill of rights in the first Congress. John Jay is confirmed as the first chief justice of the United States. 

1790 Congress adopts the Copyright Act, which creates a set of limited, but exclusive, rights for authors to copy, print, and sell certain of their expressive works.

1791 - On Dec. 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights comprising 10 constitutional amendments is ratified after Virginia becomes the 11th state to approve it.

Late 1700s

1794 - Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, publishes The Age of Reason, a two-part critique of Christianity and religion that scandalized many Christian believers. Freedom of religion is a major concern in early America.

1796 - During Tennessee’s constitutional convention, Andrew Jackson opposes, and plays a prominent role in defeating, a proposal requiring a profession of faith by all officeholders.

1798 - President John Adams oversees the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which punishes speech against the government. In response, Thomas Jefferson introduces the “Kentucky Resolution” and James Madison issues the “Virginia Resolution” to give states the power to determine the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts. On Sept. 12, 1798, newspaper editor Benjamin Franklin Bache, the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, is arrested under the Sedition Act for libeling President John Adams.

1800 - James Madison writes the Virginia Report challenging the Sedition Act.

1800s before the Civil War 

1801 - The Sedition Act of 1798 expires, and President Thomas Jefferson pardons all persons convicted under the act. The act had punished those who uttered or published “false, scandalous, and malicious” writings against the government. John Adams appoints John Marshall as chief justice of the United States. Tunis Wortman publishes A Treatise Concerning Political Enquiry and the Liberty of the Press which one scholar, Robert W. T. Martin, describes the text as “the most articulate exposition of the modern concept of press liberty to emerge in the aftermath of the Sedition Act.” 

1802 - Thomas Jefferson refers to "the wall of separation" between church and state in a letter to the Danbury Baptists.

1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall's opinion in Marbury v. Madison justifies judicial review of congressional legislation.

1804 - In People v. Croswell, the New York Supreme Court reviews a libel conviction of Harry Croswell, whom Alexander Hamilton defended on the basis of the truth of Croswell's accusations.

1811 - The New York Supreme Court upholds a blasphemy conviction in People v. Ruggles, arguing that U.S. law incorporates British common law principles.

1812 - In overturning a conviction, the Supreme Court in United States v. Hudson and Goodwin affirms that there is no federal common law of libel.

1813 - In People v. Phillips, a New York court issues what is believed to be the first free exercise case upholding the priest-penitent privilege.

1815 - In Commonwealth v. Sharpless, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds the first known obscenity conviction in the United States. In Terrett v. Taylor, the Supreme Court rules that a state’s incorporation of religious bodies is permissible and that such incorporation subsequently serves as protection for land that they own.

1819 - State v. Gruber,  a case heard in a county court in Maryland, stands as an early and rare example of the protection of antislavery speech in a slaveholding state.

1821 - In Anderson v. Dunn, the Supreme Court makes its first explicit references to the First Amendment freedoms of speech and press.

1825 - Following English precedents, the Massachusetts Supreme Court decides in Commonwealth v. Blanding that an individual can be guilty of libel even for statements that are truthful. 

1831 - Congress adopts a law limiting the power of judges to issue contempt of court rulings after James H. Peck, a judge on the U.S. district court in Missouri, is thought to have abused the power by imprisoning an individual who criticized one of his opinions. John Bannister Gibson, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice decides in Phillips et al. (Simon’s Executors) v. Gratz, that a court did not have to postpone its proceedings for a Jewish defendant who refused to appear on his Sabbath.

1833 - In Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme Court decides that the provisions of the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, do not apply to the states. Massachusetts amends its constitution to become the last state to disestablish an official religion.

1836 - The U.S. House of Representatives adopts a gag rule preventing discussion of antislavery proposals. The House repeals the rule in 1844.

1838 - The Supreme Court of Massachusetts upholds the last known blasphemy conviction in the United States in Commonwealth v. Kneeland.

1844 - Justice Joseph Story, while upholding a will that limited Christian teaching, affirms that Christianity is part of the common law in Vidal v. Girard's Executors.

1845 - In Permoli v. New Orleans,  the Supreme Court affirms that the free exercise clause of the First Amendment does not apply to the states.

1856 - In Baker v. Nachtrieb, the Supreme Court sustains an agreement between the leader and a former member of the Harmony Society.

1857 - In Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court rules that former slaves in the United States are not and cannot be U.S. citizens even after were freed.

1859 - John Stuart Mill publishes the essay “On Liberty.” The essay expands John Milton’s argument that if speech is free and the search for knowledge unfettered, then eventually the truth will rise to the surface. In Commonwealth v. Cooke, a Massachusetts court rule against the state's prosecution of a teacher who had beaten a public school child who refused to repeat the King James Version of the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments.

1800s after the Civil War

1860 - Abraham Lincoln is elected president.

1861 - The American Civil War begins. 

1863 - Gen. Ambrose Burnside of the Union Army orders the suspension of the publication of the Chicago Times on account of repeated expression of disloyal and incendiary sentiments. President Lincoln rescinds Burnside’s order three days later.

1864 - By order of President Abraham Lincoln, Gen. John A. Dix, a Union commander, suppresses the New York Journal of Commerce and the New York World and arrests the newspapers’ editors after both papers publish a forged presidential proclamation purporting to order another draft of 400,000 men. Lincoln withdraws the order to arrest the editors and the papers resume publication two days later. Congress authorizes the addition of the phrase "In God We Trust" to U.S. coins.

1865 - The Civil War ends. The 13th Amendment is ratified, ending slavery. 

1868 - The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. The amendment, in part, requires that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

1872 - In Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati v. Minor, the Ohio Supreme Court rules that a school board can repeal a regulation requiring that public schools hold opening exercises consisting of Bible reading and singing. In Watson v. Jones, the Supreme Court establishes principles that continue to dominate resolution of internal religious disputes. 

1873 - Anti-obscenity reformer Anthony Comstock successfully lobbies Congress to pass the Comstock Law. This is the first comprehensive anti-obscenity statute enacted at the federal level. The law targets the “Trade in and Circulation of, obscene literature and Articles for immoral use” and makes it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd or lascivious” materials or any information or “any article or thing” related to contraception or abortion through the mail. The Supreme Court gives a limited reading to the 14th Amendment in the Slaughterhouse Cases and ultimately rejects a claim that butchers in New Orleans filed against state regulations directing that all butchering take place in selected abattoirs.

1875 - President Ulysses S. Grant proposes what becomes known as the Blaine Amendment, limiting aid to private schools affiliated with a religion.

1876 - In United States v. Cruikshank, the Supreme Court affirms that freedom of assembly is a natural right but also states that the First Amendment offers protection only against deprivation by the national government.

1877 - Reconstruction ends in the South.

1882 - In Ex parte Curtis, the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of an 1876 act that prohibits U.S. government officials from requesting or receiving money from other government employees for political purposes.

1890 - In Davis v. Beason, the Supreme Court upholds penalties against polygamists by distinguishing religious conduct from religious belief. In Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. United States, the Supreme Court upholds the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887, which repealed the charter of Mormons and seized their property for educational purposes.

1891 - The Supreme Court in In re Rapier upholds a conviction prohibiting use of the U.S. mail for advertising lotteries or sending lottery tickets.

1899 - In Bradfield v. Roberts, the Supreme Court upholds a federal expenditure on a religious hospital, thus turning back the first challenge to such expenditures under the establishment clause.

Late 1800s - The term "yellow journalism" is coined  in New York by established journalists to belittle the unconventional and sensationalistic techniques of their new rivals: William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the New York Journal, and Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World.

1900s before World War I

1902 - The Free Speech League is organized.

1907 - The Supreme Court in Halter v. Nebraska upholds a conviction for printing an American flag on a “Stars and Stripes” brand beer bottle.  In Patterson v. Colorado — its first free-press case — the U.S. Supreme Court determines it does not have jurisdiction to review the “contempt” conviction of U.S. senator and Denver newspaper publisher Thomas Patterson for articles and a cartoon that criticized the state supreme court. The Court writes that “what constitutes contempt, as well as the time during which it may be committed, is a matter of local law.” Leaving undecided the question of whether First Amendment guarantees are applicable to the states via the 14th Amendment, the Court holds that the free speech and press guarantees only guard against prior restraint and do not prevent “subsequent punishment.” The Tillman Act, which was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, forbids some campaign contributions and is the first federal effort to regulate campaign finance.

1910 - The Wireless Ship Act addresses the emerging technology of radio, especially in international shipping and recreational cruise industries. 

1911 - In United States v. Press Publishing Co., the Supreme Court overturns a libel conviction against individuals who had alleged that Theodore Roosevelt, while president, had profited from the sales of the Panama Canal. 

1915 - The Birth of a Nation, a controversial movie based on one volume of a racist trilogy written by former North Carolina Baptist minister Thomas Dixon Jr. stirs renewed interest in the Ku Klux Klan.

1917 - The Bolsheviks seize power in Russia during the October Revolution. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics emerges as a direct result, along with increasing concerns in America about the spread of socialism and communism.

1900s World War I to World II

1917 -  Congress passes the Espionage Act, making it a crime “to willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States,” or to “willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States.” The Civil Liberties Bureau, a forerunner of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), forms in response to the Espionage Act. The United States enters World War I  aligning with France, Russia, Great Britain, Italy and Japan.

1918 - Congress passes the Sedition Act of 1918, forbidding spoken or printed criticism of the U.S. government, the Constitution or the flag.

1919 - In Schenck v. U.S., Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. sets forth his clear and present danger test: “whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has the right to prevent.” Schenck and others had been accused of urging draftees to oppose the draft and “not submit to intimidation.” Justice Holmes also writes that not all speech is protected by the First Amendment, citing the now-famous example of falsely crying “fire” in a crowded theater. In Debs v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the conviction of socialist and presidential candidate Eugene Debs under the Espionage Act for making speeches opposing World War I. Justice Holmes claims to apply the “clear and present danger” test; however, he phrases it as requiring that Debs’ words have a “natural tendency and reasonably probable effect” of obstructing recruitment. The first anticommunist "red scare" begins as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the convictions of five individuals charged with violating the 1917 Espionage Act in Abrams v. United States. The individuals had circulated pamphlets critical of the U.S. government and its involvement in World War I. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Holmes writes that “the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas — that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.” This passage forms the foundation of the “marketplace of ideas” theory of the First Amendment.

1920 - Roger Baldwin and others start up a new organization dedicated to preserving civil liberties called the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Zechariah Chafee Jr. publishes Freedom of Speech. In the first defense of the First Amendment by a Supreme Court justice, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. incorporates Chafee’s free speech theory in his dissent in Abrams v. United States (1919), articulating the need for free speech.

1921 - Congress repeals the Sedition Act.

1923 - In Meyer v. Nebraska, The Supreme Court voids a state law prohibiting the teaching of modern languages to children in public schools. 

1925 - In the landmark decision in Gitlow v. New York, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds under the New York criminal anarchy statute Benjamin Gitlow’s conviction for writing and distributing “The Left Wing Manifesto.” Although Gitlow's conviction was upheld, the Court in analyzing the case concluded for the first time that the free speech clause of the First Amendment applies to the states through the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment. This reverses the course set in 1833 when the Court had decided the First Amendment did not guarantee protection of speech from state laws.  The “Scopes monkey trial” takes place in Dayton, Tennessee, when school teacher John Thomas Scopes is found guilty of violating a Tennessee law which prohibits teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. The case pits famed orator William Jennings Bryan against defense attorney Clarence Darrow. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the Supreme Court upholds the right of parents to send children to parochial schools. Congress passes the Corrupt Practices Act in an attempt to regulate campaign contributions.

1926 - H.L. Mencken is arrested for distributing copies of American Mercury, a political and satirical magazine. Censorship groups in Boston contend the periodical is obscene. 

1927 - In Whitney v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds California’s criminal syndicalism law. The case involves Charlotte Anita Whitney, a member of the Socialist Party and former member of the Communist Labor Party.  Justice Louis D. Brandeis writes in his concurring opinion a passage that becomes a fundamental First Amendment principle: “If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.” This idea is considered the counterspeech doctrine.

1928 - In People of State of New York ex rel. Bryant v. Zimmerman, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York law which mandates that organizations requiring their members to take oaths must file certain organizational documents with the secretary of state. The Court writes: “There can be no doubt that under that power the state may prescribe and apply to associations having an oath-bound membership any reasonable regulation calculated to confine their purposes and activities within limits which are consistent with the rights of others and the public welfare.”

1930 - The Supreme Court in Cochran v. Board of Education upholds the right of Louisiana state officials to provide secular textbooks to children in parochial schools. 

1931 - In Stromberg v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the state court conviction of Yetta Stromberg, 19-year-old female member of the Young Communist League who violated a state law prohibiting the display of a red flag as “an emblem of opposition to the United States government.” Legal commentators cite this case as the first in which the Court recognizes that protected speech may be nonverbal, or a form of symbolic expression. In Near v. Minnesota, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a permanent injunction against the publisher of The Saturday Press. The Court rule that the Minnesota statute granting state judges the power to enjoin as a nuisance any “malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper, magazine or other periodical” is “the essence of censorship.” The Court concluded that the primary aim of the First Amendment was to prevent prior restraints of the press. The town of Green River, Wyoming, adopts laws limiting door-to-door solicitations; such laws come to be known as Green River Ordinances. 

1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt pardons those convicted under the Espionage and Sedition Acts.  California repeals its Red Flag Law.

1936 - In Grosjean v. American Press Co., the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a state tax on newspaper advertising applied to papers with a circulation exceeding 20,000 copies per week as a violation of the First Amendment. The Court finds the tax unconstitutional because “it is seen to be a deliberate and calculated device in the guise of a tax to limit the circulation of information to which the public is entitled in virtue of the constitutional guarantees.”

1937 - In DeJonge v. Oregon, the U.S. Supreme Court reverse the conviction of an individual under a state criminal syndicalism law for participation in a Communist party political meeting. The Court writes that “peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime. The holding of meetings for peaceable political action cannot be proscribed.” In Palko v. Connecticut, Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo affirms the doctrine of selective incorporation, which empowers the U.S. Supreme Court to take a case-by-case approach in applying the Bill of Rights to states. 

1938 - Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, in his Carolene Products footnote four, advances a "double standard" that gives increased protection for provisions of the Bill of Rights. This will coerce the court to emphasize protecting individual rights rather than property rights. Life magazine is banned in the U.S. for publishing pictures from the public health film “The Birth of a Baby.”

1939 - The Supreme Court in Schneider v. State overturns a city law limiting the distribution of handbills. The Hatch Act limits the political activities of federal employees. Georgia, Massachusetts and Connecticut finally ratify the Bill of Rights.

1940 - Congress passes the Smith Act, Title I of the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which makes it a crime to advocate the violent overthrow of the government. In Cantwell v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court relies on the free exercise clause to allow door-to-door solicitation by Jehovah's Witnesses. In Minersville School District v. Gobitis, the Supreme Court rules that children may be expelled for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. In Thornhill v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down an Alabama law prohibiting loitering and picketing “without a just cause or legal excuse” near businesses. The Court writes: “The freedom of speech and of the press guaranteed by the Constitution embraces at the least the liberty to discuss publicly and truthfully all matters of public concern without previous restraint or fear of subsequent punishment.” In Cantwell v. Connecticut, the U.S. Supreme Court holds for the first time that the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment makes the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment applicable to states. The Court upholds a Pennsylvania flag salute law in Minersville School District v. Gobitis after a Jehovah’s Witness family with two children in the public schools had challenged their expulsion for refusing to salute the flag on First Amendment grounds. “National unity is the basis of national security,” Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote for the majority. Only Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone dissented from the Court’s ruling. The Supreme Court overruled their decision three years later in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, when it invalidated flag salute laws in public schools.

World War II

1941 - Congress authorizes President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create the Office of Censorship. The United States enters World War II after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Zechariah Chafee Jr. publishes Freedom of Speech in the United States.

1942 - The Supreme Court articulates the doctrine of "fighting words" in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire. The Court states that such words are “no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.”

1943 - In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a West Virginia requirement to salute the flag violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. In National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court states that no one has a First Amendment right to a radio license or to monopolize a radio frequency. In Murdock v. Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court invalidates a license tax imposed on Jehovah's Witnesses going door to door.

1945 - On May 8, World War II ends in Europe when Germany surrenders to ally armies. On Sept. 2, weeks after the United States obliterates Nagasaki and Hiroshima with two atomic bombs, the Imperial Japanese Army surrenders to the United States aboard the USS Missouri. 

1950s - 1970s

1947 - In Everson v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New Jersey program that reimburses parents for money spent transporting their children to parochial schools because it did not breach the "wall of separation" between church and state. 

1948 - In Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court finds that the religious provision of instruction on public school grounds violate the establishment clause.

1949 - The Federal Communications Commission promulgates the fairness doctrine, an attempt to ensure broadcast stations cover controversial topics in a fair and balanced way.  In Terminiello v. Chicago, the U.S. Supreme Court limits the scope of the “fighting words” doctrine. Writing for the majority, Justice William O. Douglas says that the “function of free speech … is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.”

1950 - North Korea invade South Korea, fueling concerns about the spread of international communism. The United States enter the conflict under the auspices of the United Nations. Congress passes the Subversive Activities Control Act, or the McCarran Act, by overriding President Harry Truman's veto. Critics believe the act posees a risk to First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and association. The "Hollywood Ten"  begin to serve one-year prison terms for contempts after having refused on First and Fifth Amendment grounds to answer questions about their alleged communist affiliations before the House Un-American Activities Committee.  During this period, blacklists proliferated to identify people whose opinions or associations were deemed politically inconvenient or commercially troublesome, causing them to be fired or making it hard for them to find work.

1951 - In Dennis v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the convictions of 12 Communist Party members convicted under the Smith Act of 1940. The Court finds that the Smith Act, which banned speech that advocates the violent overthrow of the federal government, does not violate the First Amendment 

1952 - In Burstyn v. Wilson, the U.S. Supreme Court, for the first time, finds that film is included within the free speech and free press guaranty of the First Amendment. The Court finds a New York statute that permits the banning of motion pictures that are “sacrilegious” to be unconstitutional after the New York State Board of Regents had rescinded the license of the distributor of the film “The Miracle.”  In Zorach v. Clauson, the Supreme Court upholds a "released time" program for religious instruction for public school children that had taken place off the school campus.

1953 - Earl Warren becomes chief justice of the United States.

1954 - Congress adds the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. Sen. Joe McCarthy's hearings on alleged communist influences in the military lead to a backlash against his red-baiting tactics. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declares an end to de jure racial segregation. 

1957 - In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court determines that obscenity is a category of speech not protected by the First Amendment. In his opinion, Justice William Brennan writes: “Obscene material is material which deals with sex in a manner appealing to prurient interest.” He explains that the determination of whether material is obscene should be judged by “contemporary community standards.” 

1958 - The U.S. Supreme Court allows the NAACP of Alabama to withhold its membership list from Alabama lawmakers. In NAACP v. Alabama, the Court states that the demand by Alabama officials for the NAACP to provide them a membership list violates members’ associational rights.

1959 - In Barenblatt v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the conviction of a college professor who refuses, on First Amendment grounds, to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

1960 - The Supreme Court in Torcaso v. Watkins strikes down a state law prohibiting individuals from becoming notaries public unless they have professed faith in God. The first televised presidential debates, between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, are broadcast. Kennedy becomes the first Roman Catholic to be elected president of the United States.

1961 - In Garner v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court issues the first of a number of decisions voiding breach of the peace statutes as applied to civil rights demonstrations. 

1962 - The U.S. Supreme Court rule that a state-composed, non-denominational prayer in public schools violates the the establishment Clause of the First Amendment. In Engel v. Vitale, the Court states that such a prayer represents government sponsorship of religion.

1963 - The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the practices of requiring daily Bible readings in public schools in the companion cases Abington School District v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett. “They are religious exercises, required by the States in violation of the command of the First Amendment that the Government maintain strict neutrality, neither aiding nor opposing religion,” Justice Tom Clark writes for the Court. In Sherbert v. Verner, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that South Carolina officials violated the free-exercise rights of Seventh-day Adventist Adele Sherbert when they denied her unemployment-compensation benefits because she refused to work on Saturday, her Sabbath day. 

1964 - In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court overturn a libel judgment against The New York Times. The Court rules that public officials may not recover damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to their conduct unless they prove the statement was made with “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not” also called the actual malice. Berkeley, California, becomes the center of a free speech movement, led by college students who challenged many restrictive campus regulations that limited their free-speech rights

1965 - Congress adopts the Draft Card Mutilation Act. The Supreme Court articulates a constitutional right to privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut. 

1966 - The U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a Massachusetts court decision that found the 1750 book, "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" (commonly known as Fanny Hill) obscene. In Memoirs v. Massachusetts, Justice William Brennan writes that a book cannot be declared obscene unless it is found to be “utterly without redeeming social value.”  In Elfbrandt v. Russell, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates an Arizona statute requiring the dismissal of any state employee who knowingly becomes a member of the Communist Party or any party whose intentions include overthrowing the government. In Sheppard v. Maxwell, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the murder conviction of Dr. Sam Sheppard because the trial judge failed to quell publicity surrounding the trial. In its opinion, the Court recognizes gag orders as a legitimate means of controlling pretrial and trial publicity.

1967 - The U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a New York law prohibiting the employment of public school and university teachers who belonged or had belonged to “subversive” groups such as the Communist Party. The Court in Keyishian v. Board of Regents emphasizes the importance of academic freedom, writing: “Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned.”

1968 - In Pickering v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court rules that school board officials violated the First Amendment rights of Illinois public school teacher Marvin Pickering, who was fired for writing a letter critical of the school administration to a local newspaper. The Court writes that the “problem in any case is to arrive at a balance between the interests of the teacher, as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees.” In United States v. O’Brien, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the conviction of David Paul O’Brien, an anti-war protester accused of violating a federal statute prohibiting the public destruction of draft cards. O’Brien claims that the burning of draft cards is “symbolic speech” protected by the First Amendment. In Epperson v. Arkansas, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates an Arkansas statute prohibiting public school teachers from teaching evolution. The Court finds that the statute violates the establishment clause because it bans the teaching of evolution for religious reasons. Congress adopts the Flag Protection Act. The Supreme Court in Board of Education v. Allen affirms programs that loan secular textbooks to parochial school students. In Flast v. Cohen, the Supreme Court opens the door to taxpayer suits involving the establishment clause. 

1969 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District that Iowa public school officials violated the First Amendment rights of several students by suspending them for wearing black armbands to protest U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The Court determines that school officials may not censor student expression unless they can reasonably forecast that the expression will cause a substantial disruption of school activities. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, a leader of a Ku Klux Klan group is convicted under Ohio law and sentenced to prison primarily on the basis of a speech he made at a Klan rally. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules that speech advocating the use of force or crime is not protected if the advocacy is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action” or the advocacy is also “likely to incite or produce such action.” In Stanley v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the First and 14th Amendments protect a person’s “private possession of obscene matter” from criminal prosecution. The Court notes that the state, although possessing broad authority to regulate obscene material, cannot punish private possession of such in an individual’s own home. In Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communication Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court finds that Congress and the FCC did not violate the First Amendment when they required a radio or television station to allow response time to persons subjected to personal attacks and political editorializing on air. This is known as the fairness doctrine.

1970 - In Walz v. Tax Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court finds that a state law exempting the property or income of religious organizations from taxation does not violate the establishment clause. The Court states that history has revealed no danger that such exemptions will give rise to either a religious effect or an entanglement of government and religion. The Commission on Obscenity and Pornography issues its report. 

1971 - In New York Times v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court allows continued publication of the Pentagon Papers. The Court holds that the central purpose of the First Amendment is to “prohibit the widespread practice of governmental suppression of embarrassing information.” This case establishes that the press has almost absolute immunity from pre-publication restraints, also called prior restraint. In Cohen v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the breach-of-peace conviction of an individual who wore a jacket with the words “F— the Draft” into a courthouse. The Court concludes that offensive and profane speech are protected by the First Amendment. In Lemon v. Kurtzman, Alton Lemon challenges a 1968 Pennsylvania law that provides state aid to religious schools. In response, the U.S. Supreme Court establishes a three-part test, called the Lemon Test, to determine whether a government action violates the establishment clause. The test specifies that (1) the action must have a secular purpose; (2) its primary effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and (3) there must be no excessive government entanglement.

1972 - The U.S. Supreme Court rule in Branzburg v. Hayes that the First Amendment does not exempt reporters from “performing the citizen’s normal duty of appearing and furnishing information relevant to the grand jury’s task.” The Court rejects a reporter’s claim that the flow of information available to the press will be seriously curtailed if reporters are forced to release the names of confidential sources for use in a government investigation. In Wisconsin v. Yoder, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Wisconsin cannot require Amish children to attend school beyond the eighth grade on the grounds that doing so would violate the free exercise of religion. The Court holds that “[o]nly those interests of the highest order and those not otherwise served can overbalance legitimate claims to the free exercise of religion.” In Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that owners of a shopping center may bar anti-war activists from distributing leaflets at the center. The Court finds that citizens do not have a First Amendment right to express themselves on privately owned property.

1973 - In Miller v. California the U.S. Supreme Court defines the test, known as the Miller Test, for determining if speech is obscene: whether the “average person applying contemporary community standards” would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (3) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, that a state may constitutionally prohibit exhibitions or displays of obscenity, even if access to the exhibitions is limited to consenting adults.

1974 - In Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a state law requiring newspapers to give free reply space to political candidates the newspapers criticize. The Court rules that the right of newspaper editors to choose what they wish to print or not to print cannot be infringed to allow public access to the print media. In Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., the Supreme Court rule that the standard of “actual malice” does not apply to libel against an attorney. 

1976 - In Buckley v. Valeo, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that certain provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1976, which limits expenditures to political campaigns, violate the First Amendment. In Hudgens v. National Labor Relations Board, the Court holds that as long as the state does not encourage, aid or command the suppression of free speech, the First Amendment is not subverted by the actions of shopping-center owners. The Supreme Court finds that an appropriately defined zoning ordinance, barring the location of an “adult movie theatre” within 100 feet of any two other “regulated uses,” does not violate the First Amendment — even if the theater is not showing obscene material. In Young v. American Mini Theatres, the Court concludes that the ordinance is not a prior restraint and is a proper use of the city’s zoning authority. The Courts rule that the public has a First Amendment right to the free flow of truthful information about lawful commercial activities in Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council. The ruling invalidates a Virginia law prohibiting the advertisement of prescription drug prices. The Court invalidates a gag order imposed on the press in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart. The Court writes that “prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights.” 

1977 - In Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court declares that a state may require a public employee to pay dues to organizations such as unions and state bars, as long as the money is used for purposes such as collective bargaining and contract and grievance hearings. The Court notes that, pursuant to the First Amendment, state workers may not be forced to give to political candidates or to fund political messages unrelated to their employee organization’s bargaining function.

1978 - In Village of Skokie v. Nationalist Socialist Party of America, the Illinois Supreme Court rules that the National Socialist Party of America (NSPA), a neo-Nazi group, can march through Skokie, Illinois, a community inhabited by a number of Holocaust survivors. In FCC v. Pacifica, the Court allows FCC regulation because the broadcast media are a “uniquely pervasive presence” and easily accessible to children. The Court, however, does make clear that, although the government can constitutionally regulate indecent speech in the broadcast media, it does not have power to enforce a total ban on such speech. In Zurcher v. Stanford Daily, the Supreme Court upholds the use of a warrant to search a newspaper office.

1979 - The Moral Majority, arising out of an evangelical movement, is founded by Jerry Falwell to promote conservative religious values in politics.

The 1980s

1980 - In Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court strikes down a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. In Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation v. Public Service Commission,the U.S. Supreme Court sets forth a four-part test for determining when commercial speech may or may not be regulated by states. The test states that: (1) the commercial speech must not be misleading or involve illegal activity; (2) the government interest advanced by the regulation must be substantial; (3) the regulation must directly advance the asserted government interest; and (4) the government regulation must not be more extensive than is necessary to serve the government interest at stake. 

1982 - In New York v. Ferber, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that child pornography is not protected by the First Amendment. The Court rules in Board of Education v. Pico that school officials may not remove books from school libraries because they disagree with the ideas contained in the books. The Court states that “the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient’s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom,” and makes clear that “students too are beneficiaries of this principle.”

1983 - In Marsh v. Chambers, the Supreme Court sustains the Nebraska Legislature’s practice of hiring a chaplain to say prayers at the beginning of each day’s work. In Connick v. Myers, the Court rules that the First Amendment rights of a former assistant district attorney were not violated when she was dismissed for distributing a questionnaire criticizing workplace practices. The case, along with the Court’s 1968 Pickering decision, forms the basis of much public employee First Amendment law.

1984 - Congress adopts the Cable Communications Policy Act. Congress passes the Equal Access Act. The federal law prohibits secondary schools that are receiving federal financial assistance from denying equal access to student groups on the basis of religious, political or philosophical beliefs or because of the content of their speech. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor articulates an endorsement test in a concurring opinion in Lynch v. Donnelly, a creche display case. 

1985 - In Wallace v. Jaffree, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates an Alabama law authorizing a one-minute silent period at the start of each school day “for meditation or voluntary prayer.” The Court finds that the law was enacted to endorse religion, thus violating the establishment clause.

1986 - William H. Rehnquist becomes chief justice of the United States. The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography issues its report. The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a zoning law regulating the location of adult businesses. The Court determines in City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. that the law does not discriminate on the basis of the expression of the adult businesses because it focuses on the harmful secondary effects allegedly associated with such businesses. The Court rules in Witters v. Washington Dept. of Services for the Blind that a vocational rehabilitation-assistance program which awards grants and scholarships to students does not violate the establishment clause, even if some recipients use the funds to attend religious schools. The Court's ruling in Bethel School District v. Fraser curtails the protections for student speech established in the Tinker case. Bethel School District in Spanaway, Wash., suspended 17-year-old Matthew Fraser, an honors student, for two days after what was considered a lewd spring election campaign speech at a school assembly with 600 students present. His candidate won. However, the courts held that the manner of speech, delivered before a captive audience, rather than the content, was disruptive and contrary to the values the school intended to promote.

1987 - In Rankin v. McPherson, the Supreme Court rules that a clerical employee in a constable’s office has a First Amendment right to speak harshly about the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. The Court upholds a Missouri regulation limiting inmates’ mail correspondence, while striking down a regulation prohibiting inmates from marrying. The Court in Turner v. Safley establishes the following standard in inmate cases: “when a prison regulation impinges on inmates’ constitutional rights, the regulation is valid if it is ‘reasonably related’ to legitimate penological interests.” In Edwards v. Aguillard, the Court invalidates a Louisiana statute that bars the teaching of evolution in public schools unless the teaching is accompanied by instruction about creationism.

1988 - In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that school officials may exercise editorial control over content of school-sponsored student publications if they do so in a way that is reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns. In Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, Hustler Magazine publishes a parody of a liquor advertisement in which Rev. Jerry Falwell is depicted in a lewd manner. A unanimous  Court rules that a public figure must show that actual malice was committed by a publication in order to recover money for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Court rules that political cartoons and satire “have played a prominent role in public and political debate.”

1989 - Congress enacts the Anti-Dial-a-Porn Act. The Berlin Wall is torn down, signaling an end to the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Congress passes the Flag Protection Act. The act punishes anyone who “knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the floor or ground, or tramples upon any U.S. flag …” In Texas v. Johnson, the Supreme Court rules that burning the American flag is a constitutionally protected form of free speech.

The 1990s

1990 - The U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Eichman invalidates the Flag Protection Act of 1989. The Court finds that the statute violates free speech. In Milkovich v. Lorain Journal, the Court determines that there is no wholesale exemption from libel for all statements alleged to be opinions. The Court writes: “We are not persuaded that, in addition to these protections, an additional separate constitutional privilege for ‘opinion’ is required to ensure the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment.” The Equal Access Act is found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Board of Education of the Westside Community Schools v. Mergens. Congress enacts the Child Protection Restoration and Penalties Enhancement Act targeting child pornography. In Employment Division v. Smith, the Supreme Court finds that the free exercise clause of the First Amendment is not violated when two Native American employees are fired after it was discovered that they ingested peyote as part of a religious ceremony.  A U.S. district court judge rules in Skyywalker Records, Inc. v. Navarro that an earlier ruling against 2 Live Crew for obscene rap lyrics was an unconstitutional prior restraint. 

1991 - In Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of the New York State Crime Victims Board, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates the New York "Son of Sam” law that requires accused or convicted persons to turn over to the state proceeds from any work describing their crimes. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor finds that the law is overbroad and that it regulates speech based on content. The Court in Rust v. Sullivan upholds a federal program that prevents those receiving federal funding for reproductive health services from discussing abortion as a method of family planning. The Court explains: “The Government can, without violating the Constitution, selectively fund a program to encourage certain activities it believes to be in the public interest, without at the same time funding an alternative program which seeks to deal with the problem in another way.”

1992 - In Lee v. Weisman, the U.S. Supreme Court determines that an administrative policy allowing religious invocations at public middle and high school graduation ceremonies violates the establishment clause. Congress adopts the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act. In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, the Court invalidates a St. Paul, Minn., hate-speech ordinance, saying it violates the First Amendment.

1993 - Congress adopts the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District, the U.S. Supreme Court finds that the establishment clause is not subverted when a public school district provides a sign-language interpreter to a deaf student attending a parochial school within the district’s boundaries. Congress passes the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Court strikes down an ordinance targeting animal sacrifice in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. 

1994 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet that a 1989 New York law creating a separate school district for a small religious village violates the establishment clause. The Court rules in City of Ladue v. Gilleo that an Ohio woman has a First Amendment right to display an anti-war sign in her front yard and window.

1995 - In Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a policy denying funds to a Christian student newspaper on free-speech grounds. The Court finds that the university committed viewpoint discrimination by denying funding on the basis of the religious ideas expressed in the publication. President Bill Clinton orders the Department of Education to send guidelines on religious expression to every public school district in the United States. In Florida Bar v. Went for It, Inc., the Supreme Court upholds a Florida state rule that prohibits attorneys from sending solicitation letters to accident victims or their family members until 30 days after the event.

1996 - The U.S. Supreme Court in 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island invalidates a state law forbidding advertising of liquor prices. Congress adopts the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, allowing government contracts with faith-based organizations. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act. The act is immediately challenged on First Amendment grounds. Congress adopts the Telecommunications Act, part of which is the Communications Decency Act. 

1997 - The U.S. Supreme Court in Reno v. ACLU rules that some provisions in the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996 are unconstitutional. The Court concludes that the act, which makes it a crime to display indecent or patently offensive material on the Internet where a child may find it, is too vague and tramples on the free-speech rights of adults. The Court finds in City of Boerne v. Flores that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is unconstitutional as applied to the states. 

1998 - Congress enacts the Child Online Protection ActChild Online Protection Act (COPA), which attaches federal criminal liability to the online transmission for commercial purposes of material considered harmful to minors. The U.S. Supreme Court rules in National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley that a federal statute requiring the NEA to consider general standards of decency before awarding grant monies to artists does not infringe on First Amendment rights. In Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes, the Court rules that a public television station’s exclusion of a political candidate from its televised debate does not violate the First Amendment. The Court declares the station-sponsored debate to be a non-public forum, ruling that exclusion of the candidate for reasonable and viewpoint-neutral reasons is allowed.

2000 to 2010

2000 - In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that application of a public accommodation, or anti-discrimination, law to force the Boy Scouts to accept a gay scoutmaster is a violation of the private organization’s freedom of association guaranteed by the First Amendment. The Court in Mitchell v. Helms finds that a federal program allowing states to lend educational material and equipment to both public and private schools does not violate the establishment clause. In Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the Court rules that a school district’s policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Congress adopts the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Congress passes the Children’s Internet Protection Act. 

2001 - The U.S. Supreme rule in Bartnicki v. Vopper that a federal law prohibiting the publication of illegally intercepted wire communications violates the First Amendment rights of those who published the communications, though they were not the ones who intercepted them. The Court reasoned that application of the law to the defendants in this case “implicates the core provision of the First Amendment because it imposes sanctions on the publication of truthful information of public concern.” The USA Patriot Act of 2001 was passed just 45 days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. As a response to national security, the act gives federal officials sweeping and expanded authority to track and intercept communications for law enforcement and intelligence-gathering purposes, raising questions of privacy.

2002 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Republican Party of Minnesota v. White that a provision prohibiting judicial candidates from announcing their views on disputed legal or political issues violates the First Amendment. The Court upholds a Cleveland school-voucher program in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris. Challengers to the program asserted that it amounted to government support of parochial schools, and thus violated the establishment clause. The Court majority emphasized that the program was neutral and gave direct aid to parents, not schools. Congress adopts the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. 

2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court rejects constitutional challenges (including one based on the First Amendment) to the Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the copyright protection term by 20 years. The Court reasoned in Eldred v. Ashcroft that copyright law already has built-in First Amendment protections in the fair use doctrine and the expression-idea dichotomy principle (providing that copyright protects expressions, not ideas). The Court rules in Virginia v. Black that a state law banning cross-burning largely passes constitutional muster. The Court reasons that many cross-burnings are so intimidating that they constitute true threats. However, the Court invalidates a part of the Virginia law that presumed that all cross-burnings were done with an intent to intimidate. The Court upholds the Children’s Internet Protection Act in United States v. American Library Association, Inc. The law requires public libraries and public schools to install filtering software on computers to receive federal funding. The Court upholds the vast majority of the federal campaign-finance law, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, against First Amendment challenge in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission.

2004 - A lower court decision in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow raises questions about the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a lower court’s preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act. The Court reasons in Ashcroft v. ACLU II that “filtering software is an alternative that is less restrictive than COPA, and, in addition, likely more effective as a means of restricting children’s access to materials harmful to them.”

2005 -The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a First Amendment-based challenge to a government program that called for mandatory assessments from beef producers to fund generic advertising. The Court in Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association said the program constituted government speech and, thus, was immune from First Amendment scrutiny. The Court rules in Cutter v. Wilkinson that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act does not violate the establishment clause in the prison context. The Court decides two Ten Commandments cases, Van Orden v. Perry and McCreary County, Ky. v. ACLU of Kentucky. The Court upholds the placement of a monument in a Texas park in Van Orden but rejects the placement of a Ten Commandments plaque in a Kentucky courthouse. Justice Stephen Breyer is the key swing vote in both 5-4 decisions. A district court decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District cites the establishment clause in invalidating a law requiring the teaching of intelligent design in public school. John G. Roberts Jr. is confirmed as chief justice of the United States.

2006 - In a decision later vacated by the Supreme Court, a U.S. circuit court rules that a high school has the right to limit the wearing of t-shirts displaying antigay messages.

2007 - In Morse v. Frederick, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that principal Deborah Morse did not violate the First Amendment rights of high school student Joseph Frederick when she punished him for displaying a “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” banner on a public street directly across from his school while the Winter Olympic Torch Relay passed through Juneau, Alaska. The Court in doing so created a “drug speech” exception to the Court’s landmark student-speech case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., the Supreme Court rules that restrictions on advertising in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 are unconstitutional as applied.

2008 - In United States v. Williams, the Supreme Court upholds a provision of the U.S. Code prohibiting pandering of child pornography against charges that the provision was overly broad. In Davis v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court invalidates the “Millionaire’s Amendment” to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.

2009 - In Pleasant Grove v. Summum, the Supreme Court allows a city to refused to place a permanent monument with the Seven Aphorisms of Summum [the name of a religious organization] in a public park. 

2010 - In Citizens United v. FEC, the U.S. Supreme Court decides that limitations on corporate spending in elections, including political ads or so-called “electioneering communications,” violate First Amendment political free-speech rights. Corporations may spend unlimited amounts to support a candidate although direct contributions to candidates by corporations are still prohibited. In Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, the Supreme Court allows a public law school to deny facilities to a religious organization that had what it considered to be discriminatory policies for its officers. 

2010 to present

2011 - In Snyder v. Phelps, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest at the funeral of slain Marine Matthew Snyder was protected by the First Amendment. The Court holds that the protesters were on public property and engaged in peaceful speech on matters of public concern. In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the Court rules that video games are a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. The Court holds California’s law restricting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors is unconstitutional. In Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, the Court rules that Arizona taxpayers did not have standing, as taxpayers, to challenge tax credits to school tuition organizations.

 
2012 - In United States v. Alvarez, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Stolen Valor Act, a federal law that prohibited lying about receiving military medals, violated the First Amendment.  In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, the Court recognizes a “ministerial exception” exempting certain employees of religious institutions from employment discrimination.

2013 - Edward Snowden, a systems administrator with the National Security Agency (NSA) leaked thousands of classified documents. In Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a provision of an act that sought to prevent the distribution of aid to nongovernmental organizations that did not explicitly oppose prostitution or sex trafficking.

2014 - In Town of Greece v. Galloway, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a New York town’s practice of having prayer before town meetings did not violate the establishment clause. The Court majority said the town’s practice was consistent with the legislative prayer upheld by the Court in Marsh v. Chambers (1983). In Lane v. Franks, the Court unanimously rules that the First Amendment protected a public employee who was terminated by his employer after he provided truthful court testimony pursuant to a subpoena. The decision provided an exception to the broad, categorical rule limiting public employee speech in Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006).  In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that closely held corporations were exempt from the part of the Affordable Care Act that required them to provide coverage for forms of contraceptives that violated the owners’ beliefs against the use of abortifacients. In McCullen v. Coakley, the Court overturns a Massachusetts law that sought to prohibit anti-abortion counselors from standing within 35 feet of sidewalks outside of abortion clinics.

2015 - In Holt v. Hobbs, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Arkansas prison violated the religious liberty of a Muslim inmate by refusing to allow him to grow a short beard. In Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Court upholds the right of Texas to reject specialty license plates with an image of the Confederate battle flag. In Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar, the Court upholds a provision of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct that barred judicial candidates from personally soliciting funds. In Equal Employment Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, the Court rules that an employer could be liable if it denies employment to an otherwise qualified individual out of concerns about a head scarf that she wore as a result of her religious faith.

2016 - Justice Antonin Scalia dies. Donald J. Trump is elected 45th president of the United States. Trump masters the use of social media to get his message out. He also become controversial for his attacks on the press. He is president during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he supported with churches and religious liberty groups who opposed state regulations requiring them to abide by rules limiting gatherings.

2017 - In Packingham v. North Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously invalidates a North Carolina law that prohibited sex offenders from accessing social media websites. The Court said social media users, including sex offenders, access websites covered under the law for a wide range of lawful activities. This was the first case in which the court addressed social media, noting its power as "the modern public square." Neil Gorsuch is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court invalidated a revised presidential order seeking to bar immigrants from certain predominately-Muslim countries.  In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the U.S.  Court issued a 7-2 opinion using the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment to uphold the right of Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., to refuse to custom design a cake for a same-sex wedding.