Welcome back to The First Amendment for Dummies – where we discuss everything having to do with the First Amendment to the US Constitution (what it is, how it was established, challenges it has had throughout history, and how it applies to our modern day world!). In today’s post (a continuation of last week’s post), we are going to dive into how the First Amendment has been challenged throughout history – as stated in the title. Last week we explored the 20th century – plagued with two world wars, civil rights movements, both Red Scares, and so much more that threatened democracy and free speech in the US. Although 21st century history is a lot more recent and easy to remember for most of us, the First Amendment has still been facing similar challenges too freedom as it did during the previous century. So without further ado, let’s jump straight back into our First Amendment Timeline!
The 21st Century
2000: To start of the century, the court case Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe ruled that a school district’s policy, which permitted student-led and student-initiated prayer at football games, violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
2001: The Supreme Court ruled that a federal law prohibiting the publication of illegally intercepted wire communications violated the First Amendment rights of those who published the communications, though they were not the group who intercepted them. In this case, the Court reasoned that the application of the law to the defendants implicated the core provision of the First Amendment, since it imposed sanctions on the publication of truthful information of public concern. This case was titled Bartnicki v. Vopper.
2002: In this year, the US Supreme Court ruled – in the case of 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.
2003: In the case of United States v. American Library Association, Inc., the US Supreme Court upheld the Children’s Internet Protection Act. This law requires public libraries and public schools to install filtering software on computers in order to receive federal funding.
2007: In the case of Morse v. Frederick, the US Supreme Court ruled 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. In this case, the Court created a “drug speech” exception to the First Amendment.
2011: During Brown v. Entertainment Merchant’s Association, the US Supreme Court ruled that video games are a form of speech that is, in fact, protected by the First Amendment. The Court held the state of California’s law that restricting the sales or rental of violent video games to minors is actually unconstitutional.
2014: In the case of Lane v. Franks, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the First Amendment protected a public employee who was fired by his employer after he provided truthful court testimony which was pursuant to a subpoena. This decision by the Court provided an exception to the broad and categorical rule that limited public employee speech.
2017: In the case of Packingham v. North Carolina, the US Supreme Court – once again- unanimously voted to invalidate a North Carolina law that prohibited sex offenders from accessing social media websites. In this decision, the Court said that social media users, including sex offenders, access websites covered under the law for a wide range of lawful activities.
In conclusion … It is extremely important to know about the history, as well as the trials and tribulations, of the First Amendment in order to truly understand what the First Amendment is, what it protects, and how it cane be used (in court and in everyday life). I hope that these last two posts were able to be a thorough guide in understanding the history of the First Amendment (and, as always, be sure to check out the First Amendment Timeline to see every court case from the past two centuries since I couldn’t mention them all!), and be sure to look out for my next post where we dive into how the First Amendment applies to modern day society through protests!