1. Warm Up
1. In what ways does the 1st Amendment limit the government? 2. Which of these are illegal and are not protected by the 1st Amendment? A. Burning a US flag. B. Spreading false information about a person C. Yelling “Fire!” in a theatre. D. Being a member of the KKK. E. Peacefully marching on Washington DC F. Advocating for the violent overthrow of the government

2.  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

3. Explain 1st Amendment
Originally written to limit the federal government
Does not protect all speech, specifically:
Libel: printed word that is untrue about someone else
Slander: false and malicious use of spoken words
Sedition: advocating the violent overthrow of the government
Speech that is deemed obscene
But what is obscene?

4. Freedom of Speech Court Cases
United States v. Eichman: Supreme Court ruled that citizens had the right to burn US Flags as a form of symbolic speech. (some dudes burned a flag on the steps of the Capitol)
Miller v. California: Supreme Court
ruled that obscenity had to be
defined, and came out with the
Miller Test. (some dude sent out
pornographic brochures and other
dudes were offended)

5. More Freedom of Speech Cases
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District: Supreme Court ruled that students do not shed 1st Amendment rights at the school gates
(kids wore arm bands
and got in trouble)
Morse v. Frederick:
Supreme Court ruled
that speech at school
events is more limited.
(kid had a sign that said
“Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at a
school event)

6. The Smith Act
Passed in 1940
Made it a federal offense to advocate or belong to a group that advocated the violent overthrow of the government
Later the basis for prosecutions of Communist and Socialist Worker parties.

7. The Miller Test What is obscene to some is not obscene to others
Court set up a three part test, called the Miller Test
1: Average person applying contemporary & local standards finds that work taken as a whole to be prurient in nature
2: The work depicts or describes in an overtly offensive way a form of sexual conduct specifically defined by state law
3: Whether the work taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Work is considered obscene only if all three are met

8. Time-Place-Manner Restrictions
The Court has ruled multiple times that the government can place restrictions on the time, place, and manner of speech.
For instance, yelling “Fire!” in a movie theatre is illegal because of the place and manner of the speech.
Criticizing the government is not illegal

9. Some Fun Videos!
For each video we watch, answer the following questions:
1. Was anything illegal in this video?
2. Should language like this be illegal?