1st Amendment

AP GOV

Establishment Clause - Freedom of Religion

Government may not establish an official national religion or support a single, specific religion

Free Exercise Clause - Freedom of Religion

Prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion

Free Speech & Public Order - Imminent Lawlessness

This is when speech LOSES first amendment protections... when speech incites people to break the law, including to commit acts of violence.

Free Speech & Public Order - Clear and Present Danger

Allows the government to limit freedom of speech and press if it is necessary to prevent immediate and severe harm to things that the government is allowed to protect.

Free Press versus Free (Fair) Trial - Shield Laws (PROTECTIONS FOR JOURNALISTS)

Are laws that allow reporters to conceal a source's identity & right of new reporters to refuse to tesitfy

Free Press versus Free (Fair) Trial - Gag Orders

Is a court order restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party

Unprotected Speech - Obscenity

Obscenity is difficult to define, and thus difficult to regulate.

Unprotected Speech - Slander/Libel

the action or crime of making a false spoken/written statement damaging to a person's reputation.

Freedom of assembly

The right of the people to gather peacefully and to petition the government without interference

Right to Associate

Freedom to join groups or associations without government interference

Right to Petition

The legal claim that allows citizens to urge their government to correct wrongs and injustices or to take some other action.

Limits on Free Speech

Incitement, Defamation, Fraud, Obscenity, Child pornography, Fighting words, and Threats

What does the Clear and Present Danger Test require regarding speech first?

The speech must impose a threat that a substantive evil might follow.

What is the second requirement of the Clear and Present Danger Test?

The threat must be a real, imminent threat.

What must the court identify and quantify in the Clear and Present Danger Test?

Both the nature of the threatened evil and the imminence of the perceived danger.

Miller Test (Three-prong obscenity test)

1. "Community standards", would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest (prurient interest as "a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion").

2. The work is patently offensive way, specifically defined by applicable state law.

3. The work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

Slander

Spoken defamation of a person's character, reputation, business, or property rights.

Libel

Written defamation of a person's character, reputation, business, or property rights.

Symbolic Speech

An act that conveys a political message

Prior Restraint

Government censorship of information before it is published or broadcast

Limits of Freedom of Expression

There are some circumstances where the right can be restricted