Supreme court and first amendment

• Free speech issues did not even reach the Supreme Court until 1919.

• Back then the Supreme Court didn't support the protection of freedom of speech.

• The Schenck v. U.S. decision happened in 1919 where a Socialist Party member was convicted for distributing anti-war materials.

• A turning point came in Abrams v. U.S., where even though a conviction was upheld, two dissenting justices, Holmes and Brandeis, argued that speech should only be punished if it posed a "clear and present danger" of immediate harm.

• After that, Freedom of Speech is more protected until 1950 and McCarthyism.

• The Supreme Court, influenced by the fear and suspicion of the time, weakened the "clear and present danger" test.

• It ruled that speakers could be punished for advocating overthrowing the government, even if the likelihood of such an event was minimal.

• As a result, many political activists were prosecuted and jailed simply for advocating communist revolution and thousands of Americans lost their jobs.

• Finally, in 1969 the KKK case in Brandenberg v. Ohio had established a new standard for them.

• Speech can be suppressed only if it is intended, and likely to produce, “imminent lawless action.” Otherwise, even speech that advocates violence is protected.

The First Amendment ignored

• In 1798, during the French-Indian War, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act, which made it a crime for anyone to publish “any false, scandalous and malicious writing” against the government.

• In 1912, feminist Margaret Sanger was arrested for giving a lecture on birth control.

• Peaceful protesters opposing U. S. entry into World War I were jailed for expressing their opinions.

• In the early 1920s, many states outlawed the display of red or black flags because they symbolized communism.

• The First Amendment has slowly evolved with laws that strictly protect against them so everyone can freely voice their opinion.

What does protected speech include?

• The First Amendment does not only protect pure speech but also protects symbolic speech.

• A big example is Tinker v. Des Moines where students wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam war.

history

• Ancient Greeks pioneered free speech as a democratic principle

• Appeared in Greek literature around the end of the fifth century.

• Athenians were free to openly discuss politics and religion and to criticize the government in some settings.

First Amendment

• U.S., First Amendment protects freedom of speech

• December 15, 1791

• part of the Bill of Rights-first Ten Amendment to the U.S. Consitution

• The Bill of Rights provides constitutional protection for certain individual liberties, including freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship.

• The right to express ideas & information.

Flag Burning

• freedom of speech can protect symbolic speech that expresses an idea

• flag burning is an example of symbolic speech protected under the First Amendment.

• Gregory Lee Johnson burned a flag during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas to protest the Reagan administration.

• 1990, Texas court's conviction that Johnson broke the law by desecrating the flag.

When isn't speech protected?

• Not all speech is protected under the First Amendment, including obscene material, plagiarism, defamation, true threats, and speech inciting illegal actions or soliciting crimes.

• The Supreme Court established the limitations of free speech in 1919 with the Espionage Act of 1917.

• Charles Schenck was arrested under the Act for urging draft dodgers, upheld by the "clear and present danger" standard.

• Eugene Debs was arrested under the Act for encouraging others not to join the military, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Debs v. United States.

Freedom of Expression

• In most cases, freedom of expression may be restricted only if it will cause direct and imminent harm.

• In deciding cases involving artistic freedom of expression the Supreme Court leans on a principle called "content neutrality."

• Content neutrality means the government can't restrict expression just because some segment of the population finds the content offensive.

Free speech in school

• In 1695, students at a public high school organized a silent protest against the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to protest the fighting.

• They got suspended from school.

• The Supreme Court didn’t bite—they ruled in favor of the students’ right to wear the armbands

Is there a law that protects us from private employers?

Why does freedom of speech only protect us against the government?

Can Thailand have freedom of speech in the future?

Is there a law that protects free speech for scientists?

Should scientific fails be researched to see whose voices were silenced?

The primary reason why we have freedom of speech is to allow public criticism of the government.

Some countries that don't allow free speech can make you go to jail.

The First Amendment protects you only from the government stopping you from saying what you want.

The 1st amendment only protects us against the government, not private people. For example, if you dislike some rules that your boss did, you can't go up to him wearing arm bands and start protesting since he can sue you and you won't be protected by the 1st amendment.

Level of protection:

1. Political Speech

   • any law regulation or executive act that limits political speech is always struck down by the court.

   • The First Amendment protects speech even though it advocates the use of force or encourages people to not follow the law.

2. Symbolic Speech

   • Wearing armbands, making signs, and even burning the U.S. flag is protected by the first amendment.

   • hate speech is also protected even though it could extremely offend others.

   • University have tried to punish hate speech but it has been unsuccessful because of this law.

3. Commercial Speech (Political related)

   • Spending money on political campaigns are speech that is protected by the 1st amendment

   • Fighting words are not protected.

Everyone has a right to speak freely without fear and it's a requirement for all other of our freedom, so we can live in a free society.

It does allow every citizen to get involved in the policy and social processes of a country.

In December 1965 a group of students in Des Moines decided to protest against the Vietnam War.

Many students decide to wear black arm bands to school to mourn the loss of people who died during the war.

The principal of the school created a policy that any student with the armband would be asked to be removed, if not they will get suspended.

4 students wore an armband and all refused to remove it so they got suspended.

The school board president, Ora Niffenegger, defended the ban as a “disciplinary measure” against “disturbing influence” in school.

The Iowa Civil Liberties Union argued that the armband rule should be removed.

In the first round, the students lost because although it is a symbolic act that falls under the 1st amendment they are concerned about the disciplined atmosphere of the classroom that outweighs the free speech concern.

The case moved to the Supreme Court.

Dan Johnston argued for the students, pointing out that the district had allowed other kinds of provocative political speech.

The students won as the judges ruled out that students should be given free speech within the walls of the school.

With freedom of speech we have the freedom to disagree and don't need the government to decide which side is wrong.

Freedom of speech is an underrated part of a prosperous life in the U.S. where we are pretty much free to say whatever we want.

To articulate their opinion and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction.

There are 8 laws that protect us from private employers those include:

• The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),

• The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

• The Affordable Care Act

• The Social Security Act

• Each state has its unemployment insurance agency, jobless benefits are offered through a joint federal-state program.

• OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program

• The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

• The Civil Rights Act of 196

Because the 1st amendment states that freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without government interference or regulation.

There are various laws for example the Whistleblower Protection laws that protect whistleblowers who report misconduct, fraud, or unethical behavior within organizations, including scientific institutions. These laws are designed to safeguard individuals who expose wrongdoing.

Is there any way that freedom of speech improves our society?

Will there be any limits when we are free to speak?

Will we get punished by the law for what we think?

Will our country have freedom of speech?

We can comunicate more and try to understand each other instead of don't let them say anything.

Yes, there is a limit of how much things are protected by the 1st amendment forexample fighting words are not protected.

What research methods and strategies were most effective for obtaining relevant and reliable information?

Did your understanding of your topic evolve as you delved deeper into the research?

Were there any surprises or unexpected insights you encountered during your exploration of the topic?

How did you apply critical thinking skills in analyzing information and forming your own perspective on your topic?

Did you develop any new skills or deepen your understanding of research methods?

How has this research experience influenced your perspective on the importance of your topic in society?

Most of the useful websites come from the information packet however I did find other websites related to the topic.

Yes, I think I learned a lot about free speech that I didn't know and it made me realize how important freedom of speech is.

It was surprising for me the fact that some scientist's theories were silenced because they don't have freedom of speech.

I try to stick to the topics that my group made in the Padlet and sort them correctly. I also made questions that I then found answers which made me learn a lot.

I learned how to use questions to further research, as well as research my group's questions and do further research that led to me learning a lot of new things.

I was originally already supporting freedom of speech, however, by researching more about it, I realized that Thailand needed freedom of speech.

Why some people don't allow freedom of speech? Everyone must have the right to say what they want.

When will Thailand allow freedom of speech?

Why does it need to be only the Supreme Court that supports freedom of speech best?

Can we at least say stuff that we want but have limits?

It depends on the individual opinion however most likely it is because the government wants to preserve the existing power structure or gain political control.

The most useful website for history is history.com, I do find some more websites on that website to get more details.

Yes, I learn so much new stuff about free speech. It is so fun and interesting to read over the history of free speech. I know where it came from and some examples of it.

It surprised me when I realized how much people struggle with free speech. We all should have the right to say anything we want. I never knew that free speech was such a big thing.

When I read the article, I tried to understand what was going on, repeat it with my own words, and write it down.

I learn a lot about how to research and compare the information from each website.

I always wanted to know about freedom of speech but never researched it seriously. I do support freedom of speech but not deeply, now I do support freedom of speech so much more. We all need to have to right to say what we want.

Why would the First Amendment protect hate speech?

It is protected because the 1st amendment believes in freedom of expression, determining whether this speech is hate speech or not can also be hard because of individual and cultural differences. Although it is protected by the 1st amendment it does not protect us against public criticism.

The most effective website that I use is quillette.com, which is very useful and has a lot of information.

Yes, I understand about this topic. At first, I thought this topic was not very interesting but after I read the article it's quite interesting.

I was surprised that so many people are interested in freedom of speech.

While I am reading the information or an article I try to learn a new word and understand the information.

I learned which websites are trustworthy and which aren't compared to other websites.

I have wanted to learn about this topic for a long time already but I don't have time to research this so I have a lot of fun while researching this topic.

Most of the websites that I used are from the sources that the teacher gave us, but I still found a few of them on my own.

Yes, I know more about the history of freedom of speech and also how it evolved and protected during the research.

during the research, I also learned more about Anti-SLAPP laws which I didn't expect.

All of my group members worked hard and sorted the resources clearly in Padlet, which made it easier to. analyze the information.

Yes, I learned that researching is very important when you first start a topic that you are not familiar with.

I learned that free speech is very important and that it protects most of our freedom, talking is a necessary part of our life, if one day there's no freedom of speech, we have to be afraid of what we can talk about and what we shouldn't be talking about, it's going to cause a lot of pressure to the whole society.