Incorporation Cases
This U.S. Supreme Court case incorporated the free press provision of the 1st amendment to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment
Near v. Minnesota (1931)
These two clauses in the First Amendment protect religious freedom by preventing the government from establishing a religion while also protecting individuals’ rights to practice their faith.
What are the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause?
These types of speech are not protected by the First Amendment
What is Obscenity, Defamation, Fighting words?
This 1971 case allowed newspapers to publish classified documents about the Vietnam War, rejecting prior restraint by the government.
What is New York Times v. United States?
The five freedoms delineated in the First Amendment
What is freedom of Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly and Petition.
This U.S. Supreme Court case incorporated the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech to apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment
Gitlow v. New York
This 1962 Warren Court case held that even a voluntary, nondenominational prayer recited in public schools violates the Establishment Clause, emphasizing the wall of separation between church and state.
What is Engel v. Vitale?
This First Amendment doctrine protects individuals from being forced by the government to express messages or beliefs they disagree with (eg. forcing student to say the pledge of allegiance)
What is the doctrine against compelled speech?
This 1988 case held that public school administrators can censor school-sponsored student newspapers if the content is inconsistent with educational goals.
What is Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier?
This clause of the First Amendment prevents the government from creating an official religion.
What is the Establishment Clause?
This 1947 U.S. Supreme Court case applied the Establishment Clause to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment and upheld a New Jersey program reimbursing parents for transportation to religious schools.
What is Everson v. Board of Education?
This U.S. Supreme Court case established a three-part test requiring laws to have a secular purpose, not advance or inhibit religion, and avoid excessive government entanglement, striking down state funding for teachers in religious schools.
What is Lemon v. Kurtzman, (1972)?
This type of First Amendment restriction allows the government to regulate when, where, and how speech occurs, without controlling the content of the message.
What is Time, Place, and Manner Restrictions
This 1972 case ruled that reporters do not have a First Amendment right to refuse to testify before a grand jury.
What is Branzburg v. Hayes?
This 1802 letter introduced the phrase “wall of separation between church and state,” influencing how the First Amendment is understood.
What is Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists?
This 1940 Supreme Court case incorporated the Free Exercise Clause to the states, striking down a law that required a permit for religious solicitation because it gave officials too much discretion to decide what counted as a religion.
What is Cantwell v. Connecticut?
This 2022 U.S. Supreme Court case addressed whether a public school football coach could be disciplined for continuing to pray on the field after games, raising questions about First Amendment protections for public employees’ religious expression.
What is Kennedy v. Bremerton School District?
This U.S. Supreme Court ruled that speech can only be restricted if the speech creates a real, immediate and likely threat of illegal conduct
What is Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)?
This 1974 Supreme Court case struck down a state law that required newspapers to give political candidates a “right of reply,” holding that forcing a paper to publish content interferes with editorial judgment and violates the freedom of the press.
What is Miami Herald v. Tornillo?
Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the federal government, but this constitutional amendment later allowed it to be applied to the states through incorporation.
What is the Fourteenth Amendment?
This 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case applied the First Amendment’s freedom of the press to the states through incorporation and required public officials to prove “actual malice” in defamation claims.
What is New York Times v. Sullivan?
In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld a Ten Commandments monument on state capitol grounds, reasoning that displays with religious content are constitutional when they reflect this broader concept rather than promoting religion directly.
What is historical tradition?
This US Supreme Court Case held that Schools may only restrict student speech if it causes substantial disruption to the educational environment.
What is Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)?
This colonial printer was arrested in 1734 for criticizing a royal governor, and a jury acquitted him because his statements were true, even though the law at the time did not allow truth as a defense, helping establish the principle of a free press.
Who is John Peter Zenger?
This founding figure introduced the First Amendment in Congress and drafted much of the Bill of Rights to address concerns that the Constitution lacked protections for individual liberties.
Who is James Madison?