Topics: Events

• Banned Books Week

  Banned Books Week is intended to make the public more aware of the frequent challenges to the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and press...

• Berkeley Free Speech Movement

  The Berkeley Free Speech Movement refers to college students who in the 1960s challenged many University of California campus regulations limiting their First...

• Capitol Riot of Jan. 6, 2021
• Chicago Seven Trial

  The Chicago Seven Trial of 1969 convicted anti-war demonstrators for intent to incite a riot. Many said the law under which they were convicted violated the...

• Civil Rights Movement

  The expressive actions and protests during the Civil Rights era led to considerable growth in First Amendment court precedents, including areas of association...

• Civil War, U.S.

  Abraham Lincoln and his administration restricted constitutional liberties during the Civil War, including freedom of speech and freedom of the press...

• Constitutional Convention of 1787

  The 1787 Constitutional Convention built the U.S. Constitution. The constitution did not include explicit protection of First Amendment rights. A Bill of Rights...

• Free Speech During Wartime

  Freedom of speech often suffers during times of war.  Patriotism at times devolves into jingoism and civil liberties take a backseat to security and order...

• McCarthyism

  The term McCarthyism described the practice of publicly accusing government employees of political disloyalty and using unsavory investigatory methods to...

• National Prayer Breakfast

  The National Prayer Breakfast attracts political and religious leaders from around the nation and the world. Some worry that the event borders on violation of...

• Protestant Reformation

  The Protestant Reformation appealed to the founders of America, and some of its concepts of individualism and free expression of religion are incorporated into...

• Red Scare

  In two anti-Communist periods in the United States, known as Red Scares, First Amendment rights providing for free expression and free association were...

• Romantic and Transcendental Movements

  Transcendental and Romantic writers believed that government may not interfere with freedom of expression. Some First Amendment court opinions have roots in...

• Salem Witch Trials

  The Salem witch trials are a testament to the importance of due process in protecting individuals against false accusations, which are not protected by the...

• School Violence

  Since school violence has become a national issue, courts have had to determine whether student speech is a 'true threat' or protected by the First Amendment...

• Scopes Monkey Trial

  Although Tennessee upheld a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution after the Scopes Monkey Trial, the Supreme Court later said a similar law violated the...

• Trial of Reuben Crandall (1835-1836)

  In 1835, Reuben Crandall, was prosecuted for seditious libel for possessing abolitionist literature by the author of The Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key...

• Vietnam War

  The Vietnam War quickly became the focus of symbolic speech and major protests that resulted in increased government attempts to limit First Amendment...

• World War I

  Cases challenging the Espionage Act, used in World War I to prosecute those who objected to the war, laid the foundation for modern interpretation of the First...

• World War II

  During World War II, the Supreme Court began to apply the clear and present danger standard of First Amendment protection to dissident political speech...