First Amendment timeline
First Amendment Center
Significant historical events, court cases, and ideas that have shaped our
current system of constitutional First Amendment jurisprudence:
1215 Abuses by England’s King
John cause a revolt by nobles, who compel him to recognize rights for both
noblemen and ordinary Englishmen. This document, known as the Magna
Carta, establishes the principle that no one, including the king or a
lawmaker, is above the law, and establishes a framework for future documents
such as the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
1628 The Petition of
Right is a statement of the objectives of the 1628 English legal-reform
movement that 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 led 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.
1663 The new Charter of Rhode
Island grants religious freedom.
1689 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."
1708 Connecticut passes the
first dissenter statute and allows "full liberty of worship" to Anglicans and
Baptists.
1735 New York publisher John
Peter Zenger is tried for libel after publishing criticism of the Royal Governor
of New York. Zenger is defended by Andrew Hamilton and acquitted. 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.
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.
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.
1777 Thomas Jefferson
completes his first draft of a Virginia state bill for religious freedom, which
states: "No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship,
place, or ministry whatsoever." The bill later becomes the famous Virginia
Ordinance for Religious Freedom.
1776 The Continental Congress
adopts the final draft of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.
1786 The Virginia legislature
adopts the Ordinance of Religious Freedom, which effectively disestablished the
Anglican Church as the official church and prohibited 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, Alexander
Hamilton writes on the subject of the liberty of the press, declaring that “the
liberty of the press shall be inviolably preserved.”
1787 Congress 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." The U.S.
Constitution is adopted into law on Sept. 17 by the Federal Constitutional
Convention and later ratified by the states on June 21, 1788. The U.S.
Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in use.
1791 On Dec. 15, Virginia
becomes the 11th state to approve the first 10 amendments to the
Constitution, thereby ratifying the Bill of Rights.
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. 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, newspaper editor
Benjamin Franklin Bache, the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, is arrested under
the Sedition Act for libeling President John Adams.
19th
century
The 19th century witnesses a Supreme Court hostile to many claims
of freedom of speech and assembly. Fewer than 12 First Amendment cases come
before the court between 1791 and 1889, according to First Amendment scholar
Michael Gibson. This is due to the prevailing view among federal judges that the
Bill of Rights does not apply to the states.
1801 Congress lets the
Sedition Act of 1798 expire, and President Thomas Jefferson pardons all person
convicted under the Act. The act had punished those who uttered or published
"false, scandalous, and malicious" writings against the government.
1836 The U.S. House of
Representatives adopts gag rules preventing discussion of antislavery proposals.
The House repeals the rules in 1844.
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.
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
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.
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."
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.
20th century
Free-speech claims form a substantive and integral part of the early
20th century First Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
This may well be due to the extraordinary social upheavals of the era: massive
late-19th century immigration movements, World War I and the spread
of socialism in the United States.
1907 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."
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."
1917 The Civil Liberties
Bureau, a forerunner of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is formed in
response to passage of the Espionage Act.
1918 Congress passes the
Sedition Act, which forbids spoken or printed criticism of the U.S. government,
the Constitution or the flag.
1919 In Schenck v.
U.S., U.S. Supreme Court Justice Holmes 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.
1919 In Debs
v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the conviction of socialist and
presidential candidate Eugene V. 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.
1919 The U.S. Supreme Court
upholds the convictions of five individuals charged with violating the 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 Oliver Wendell 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).
1921 Congress repeals the
Sedition Acts.
1925 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." The Court concludes, however, that the free-speech clause of the
First Amendment applies to the states through the due-process clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
1925 The "Scopes Monkey Trial"
occurs in Dayton, Tenn. 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.
1926 H.L. Mencken is arrested
for distributing copies of American Mercury. Censorship groups in Boston
contend the periodical is obscene.
1927 The U.S. Supreme Court
upholds California’s criminal-syndicalism law in Whitney
v. California. The case involves Charlotte Anita Whitney, a member of
the Socialist Party and former member of the Communist Labor Party. Justice
Louis 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.”
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 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."
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.
1931 In Near v.
Minnesota, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a permanent injunction
against the publisher of The Saturday Press. The Court rules 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.
1933 President Franklin D.
Roosevelt pardons those convicted under the Espionage and Sedition Acts.
1933 California repeals its
Red Flag Law, ruled unconstitutional in Stromberg.
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 guaranties."
1937 In DeJonge
v. Oregon, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses 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."
1938 Life magazine is
banned in the U.S. for publishing pictures from the public health film "The
Birth of a Baby."
1939 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.
1940 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."
1940 In Cantwell v.
Connecticut, the U.S. Supreme Court holds for the first time that the
due-process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes the free-exercise clause of
the First Amendment applicable to states.
1940 The Court upholds a
Pennsylvania flag-salute law in Minersville
School District v. Gobitis by a vote of 8-1. A Jehovah's Witness family
that had two children in the public schools challenged their expulsion 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, which would be overruled three years later in
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette.
1941 Congress authorizes
President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create the Office of Censorship.
1942 The U.S. Supreme Court
determines "fighting words" are not protected by the First Amendment. In Chaplinsky
v. New Hampshire, the Court defines "fighting words" as "those which by
their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of
peace." 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.
1943 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.
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. Justice Hugo Black writes: "In the words of Jefferson, the
clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of
separation between Church and State.'"
1949 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."
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, a measure banning speech which 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 motion pictures are 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 on the ground that they are “sacrilegious” to be unconstitutional after the New York State Board of Regents rescinds the license of the distributor of the film “The Miracle” to show the film in the state.
1957 The U.S. Supreme Court
determines that "obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected
speech or press." 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 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.
In Barenblatt v.
United States, the Court states that, "where First Amendment rights are
asserted to bar governmental interrogation, resolution of the issue always
involves a balancing by the courts of the competing private and public interests
at stake in the particular circumstances shown." The Court concludes that the
investigation is for a valid legislative purpose and that "investigatory power
in this domain is not to be denied Congress solely because the field of
education is involved."
1962 The U.S. Supreme Court
rules that a state-composed, non-denominational prayer 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.
1963 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 overturns 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 actual malice. The Court
defines actual malice as "with knowledge that it was false or with reckless
disregard of whether it was false or not."
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."
1966 In Elfbrant
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.
1966 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 The U.S. 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 in Pickering
v. Board of Education 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.”
1968 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.
The Court concludes that conduct combining "speech" and "non-speech" elements
can be regulated if the following four requirements are met: (1) the regulation
is within the constitutional power of the government; (2) it furthers an
"important or substantial" government interest; (3) the interest is "unrelated
to suppression of free expression;" and (4) "incidental restriction" on First
Amendment freedoms is "no greater than is essential to the furtherance" of the
government interest. The Court concludes that all requirements were satisfied in
this case.
1968 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.
1969 The U.S. Supreme Court
rules in Tinker
v. Des Moines Independent School District that Iowa public school
officials violated the FirstAmendment 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.
1969 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 (1) the advocacy is "directed to inciting
or producing imminent lawless action" and (2) the advocacy is also "likely to
incite or produce such action."
1969 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.
1969 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.
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.
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.
1971 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.
1971 In Lemon v.
Kurtzman, Alton Lemon challenges a 1968 Pennsylvania law that provides
state aid to many religious schools. In response, the U.S. Supreme Court
establishes a three-part 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
rules 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.
1972 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.”
1972 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 The U.S. Supreme Court in
Miller v.
California defines the test for determining if speech is obscene: (1)
whether the "average person applying contemporary community standards" would
find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (2)
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.
1973 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.
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.
1976 The U.S. Supreme Court
rules that the First Amendment does not apply to privately owned shopping
centers. 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.
1976 The U.S. 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.
1976 The U.S. Supreme Court
rules 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 Court
invalidates a Virginia law prohibiting the advertisement of prescription drug
prices.
1976 The U.S. Supreme 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 The Illinois Supreme
Court rules in NSPA
v. Skokie that the National Socialist Party of America (NSPA), a
neo-Nazi group, can march through Skokie, Ill., a community inhabited by a
number of Holocaust survivors.
1978 The U.S. Supreme Court
upholds the power of the FCC to regulate indecent speech broadcast over the air.
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.
1980 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 The U.S. Supreme Court
rules in New
York v. Ferber that child pornography is not protected by the First
Amendment.
1982 The U.S. Supreme 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 The U.S. Supreme Court
rules in Connick
v. Myers 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 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.
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.
1985 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.
1986 The U.S. Supreme 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.
1986 The U.S. Supreme Court
case Bethel
School District v. Fraser curtailed the protections 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 The U.S. Supreme 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."
1987 In Edwards
v. Aguillard, the U.S. Supreme 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.
1988 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 U.S. Supreme 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 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 ..."
1989 In Texas v.
Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that burning the American flag is
a constitutionally protected form of free speech.
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.
1990 The U.S. Supreme Court
determines in Milkovich
v. Lorain Journal 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.”
1990 The Equal Access Act is
found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Board
of Education of the Westside Community Schools v. Mergens.
1990 In Employment
Division v. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court finds that the free-exercise
clause of the First Amendment is not violated when two employees are fired after
it was discovered that they ingested peyote as part of a religious ceremony. The
Court rules that "an individual's religious beliefs" do not "excuse him from
compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct the State is free to
regulate."
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.
1991 The U.S. Supreme 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 The U.S. Supreme Court
determines in Lee v.
Weisman that an administrative policy allowing religious invocations at
public middle and high school graduation ceremonies violates the establishment
clause.
1992 In R.A.V. v. City
of St. Paul, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a St. Paul, Minn.,
hate-speech ordinance, saying it violates the First Amendment.
1993 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. The Court states that it has "consistently
held that government programs that neutrally provide benefits to a broad class
of citizens defined without reference to religion are not readily subject to an
Establishment Clause challenge just because sectarian institutions may also
receive an attenuated financial benefit."
1993 Congress passes the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
1994 U.S. Supreme Court rules
in Board
of Educ. 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.
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.
1995 President Clinton orders
the Department of Education to send guidelines on religious expression to every
public school district in the United States.
1996 The U.S. Supreme Court in
44
Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, invalidates a state law forbidding
advertising of liquor prices.
1996 Congress passes the
Communications Decency Act (CDA). The act is immediately challenged on First
Amendment grounds.
1997 The U.S. Supreme Court in
Reno v.
ACLU rules that the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996 is
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.
1997 The U.S. Supreme Court
finds in City of
Boerne v. Flores that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is
unconstitutional as applied to the states.
1998 The Child Online
Protection Act (COPA), which attaches federal criminal liability to the online
transmission for commercial purposes of material considered harmful to minors,
is enacted by Congress.
1998 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.
1998 In Arkansas
Educational Television Commission v. Forbes, the U.S. Supreme 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.
21st
century
2000 In Boy Scouts
of America v. Dale, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that application of a
public-accommodation 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.
2000 The U.S. Supreme 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.
2000 In Santa
Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme 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.
2001 The U.S. Supreme rules 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.”
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.
2002 The U.S. Supreme 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.
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).
2003 The U.S. Supreme 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. The Court invalidates a part of
the Virginia law that presumed that all cross-burnings were done with an intent
to intimidate.
2003 The U.S. Supreme 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.
2003 The U.S. Supreme 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 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.
2004 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
rules in Cutter
v. Wilkinson that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons
Act does not violate the establishment clause in the prison context.
2005 The U.S. Supreme 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.
Related
About the First Amendment
The First Amendment in the Colonial newspaper press
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