AP GOV UNIT 2 (FIRST AMENDMENT)

Civil Rights

legal rights that protect individuals from discrimination (based on charateristics)

Civil Liberties

Rights and freedom guaranteed by Constitution that protects against government limiting individuals

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments; specifically to protect people from actions by the government

First Amendment

Freedom of expression

Freedom of Religion

Establishment Clause & Free Exercise Clause

Establishment Clause

a wall of separation between church and state; government cannot create a national religion

Free Exercise Clause

choice about which religion to practice and how to practice it; but those beliefs cannot take away other’s rights

Freedom of Speech

Political speech, pure speech, speech with some kind of action, symbolic speech are generally protected

Hard money

money contributed directly to a specific candidate → highly regulated and limited

Soft money

indirect contributions to political parties and committees; less regulated and protected by free speech

We lose freedom of speech when…

sedition, obscenity, defamation, false advertisement, fighting words

Obscenity test

would an average person applying contemporary community standards find the material appeal to unusual interest in sex?; no nationwide consensus

Defamation

false expression about a person presented as fact that damages reputation; slander (spoken) & libel (printed)

False advertisement

advertising illegal goods and services; misleading advertisements; promotion of tobacco products on TV to minors

Fighting words

words whose utterance is intended to cause panic; promoting violent acts

Hate speech

speech motivated by bigotry and racism

With the first amendment, you can…

not speak; use offensive words to convey political messages; to contribute money to political campaigns; right to advertise

With the first amendment, you cannot

incite imminent lawless action; make or distribute obscene material; burn draft cards; make obscene speech at school sponsored event; advocate for illegal substance use

Freedom of Press

prior restraint

Freedom of assembly

right to assemble in a group or right of associations as long as Gatherings are peaceful; government could restrict time, place, and manner ; could require permits; ANY RESTRICTION MUST BE CONTENT-NEUTRAL

Freedom of Petition (forms)

;letters, emails, phone class, whitehouse gov, petitions

CItizens United v. FEC

(Freedom of Speech → political speech) (First Amendment protects the right of corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited money on independent political advertising during elections

Tinker v. Des Moines

(Symbolic speech of freedom of speech) First Amendment applied to public schools, and school officials could not censor student speech unless it disrupted the educational process; did not materially and substantially

NYT v. United States

Freedom of press; prior restraint; unanimous for NYT

Schenck. v United States

distributing leaflets against the draft; schenck lost because there was clear and present danger

Wiscosin v Yoder

mormon parents did not want to send children to school; they won because a few more years of schooling aren’t gonna make that big of a difference (freedom of religion- free exercise clause)

Engel v. Vitale

nondenominational prayers; the school lost because it violated the establishment clause