Constitution 101: Freedom of Speech ... the First Amendment
| |
Sadly, the examples below are indeed protected by the freedom of speech clause of the First Amenment.
- The chants of Jews will not replace us (from Charlottesville)
- Donald Trump's libelous claims about the Biden family
|
| |
However, they are not out-of-the-box safe. In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, known then and now as the Great Dissenter,
gave the opinion that even freedom of speech has limits. His classic suggestion? One cannot shout fire in a crowded theater ... |
| |
Federalist 10 (authored by Madison) claims that the “violence of faction” is the “mortal disease” of popular governments.
Ironically, it's the 10th Federalist that's most often cited as protecting freedom of speech.
As Publius (in this case Madison) points out,
the Constitution is designed not only for the American situation of that moment, but also for circumstances most likely to nurture the problem of faction.
I.e., infighting among political groups.
|
Freedom of Speech: Assignment
| |
For each of these well-known cases:
- the My Lai massacre
- the Pentagon Papers
- Rudy Giuliani's ignoring a Congressional subpoena
cite what you consider to be the facet of the case
most affected by the First Amendment's support for freedom of speech
|
Freedom of Speech: More Material
| |
Each of the resources below can give you further insight into
the relationship between the Federalist Papers, and Freedom of Speech as defined in the First Amendment:
|
No comments:
Post a Comment