AP American Government

1
AP American Government

• Unit 1 Constitutional Interpretation and the
  Bill of Rights

2
First Amendment - Speech

• Limited Government Negative Right
• First Amendment establishment of religion and
  free exercise thereof, speech, press, peaceful
  assembly, and petition for redress of grievances
• Congress shall make no lawabridging the freedom
  of speech
• Restrictions on free speech (General Public)
• Schenck v. United States (1919) Clear and
  Present Danger Test Strict Scrutiny Standard
• Gitlow v. New York (1925) Bad Tendency Test
  (threats)
• Miller v. California (1973) Obscenity Test
  (prurient interests)

3
First Amendment - Speech

• Conduct vs. Speech
• Cohen v. California (1971)
• Virginia v. Black (2003)
• Recent Decisions
• Texas v. Johnson (1989) Flag Burning
• United States v. Stevens (2010) Dog Fighting
  Videos
• Brown v. Electronic Merchants (2011) Video game
  bans for juveniles
• Citizens United v. FEC (2010) corporate speech
  in elections

4
First Amendment - Speech

• Special Case Schools
• Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) Disruptive Speech
• Bethel v. Fraser (1986) Crude Speech
• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) Controversial
  Speech with Minors
• Morse v. Frederick (2007) School Mission

5

• Matthew Fraser gave the following speech at a
  high school assembly in support of a candidate
  for student government office
• "I know a man who is firm -- he's firm in his
  pants, he's firm in his shirt, his character is
  firm but most . . . of all, his belief in you,
  the students of Bethel, is firm.
• Jeff Kuhlman is a man who takes his point and
  pounds it in. If necessary, he'll take an issue
  and nail it to the wall. He doesn't attack things
  in spurts -- he drives hard, pushing and pushing
  until finally -- he succeeds.
• Jeff is a man who will go to the very end -- even
  the climax, for each and every one of you.
• So vote for Jeff for A. S. B. vice-president --
  he'll never come between you and the best our
  high school can be."

6
First Amendment - Speech

• Tort (Civil) Protections (libel and slander)
• New York Times v. Sullivan Malice Threshold
• Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988) Public
  figures