Kayla Clarke

03/1/18

JOMC 393 – The First Amendment

History on the First Amendment

The Bill of Rights, which is the first ten amendments, was ratified on September 25,

1789. Ratifying meaning giving formal consent. On December 15, 1971, the first ten

amendments was officially adopted. Each amendment is focused on different parts of the law.

The First Amendment focuses on the freedom of religion, speech, and the press. The second

amendment deals with the right to bear arms, the third amendment deals with the housing of

soldiers, and the fourth amendment deals with the protection from unreasonable searches and

seizures. The fifth and sixth amendment deal with protection of rights to life, liberty, and

property and rights of accused persons in criminal cases. Amendment seven deals with civil

cases, and amendment eight deals with excessive bail, fines, and punishment forbidden. The last

two amendments, nine and ten, deal with rights kept by people and undefeated powers kept by

the states and the people. This paper will specifically focus on the First Amendment. To be

specific, the First Amendment states the following: “Congress shall make no law respecting an

establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of

speech, or the of the press; or the right of the people peaceable to assemble, and to petition the

Government for a redress of grievances.” This essay will dig deeper into the specific parts of the

First Amendment which are freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of religion.
 Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech is defined as the right to express any opinions without censorship or

restraint. Freedom of speech gives Americans the rights to express themselves without having

the government interfere, says history.com. Some speeches, however, are not protected by the

First Amendment because it may be provoking or harmful to others. Other than that, every

American has a right to free speech. One example of Free Speech is in the case between West

Side Community Schools vs. Mergens in 1990. Bridget Mergens, a senior student at Westside

High School in Omaha, Nebraska, asked her homeroom teacher to start an after-school Christian

club. Bridget’s principal, which is also the homeroom teacher, denied Bridget’s request. She

stated that a religious club is illegal in a public school. Although the principal has authority over

the school, the law is higher. “The Equal Access Act became law on August 11, 1984, passing

the Senate 88-11 and the House 337-77. Congress's primary purpose in passing the Act,

according to the Supreme Court, was to end “perceived widespread discrimination” against

religious speech in public schools.”

(Amendment Center, F. (2018, February 28). The Equal Access Act. Retrieved February 28,

2018, from http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/resources/handout1a.aspx?id=14070)

This act made sure that public schools allowed religious and political clubs at the school.

However, the principal didn’t agree. This case was then taken to the Supreme Court. Once again,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free

exercise thereof.” From that quote, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mergens. The Court

stated that students should be allowed to discuss religion on campus after school. This is just one

case that discusses the freedom of speech and a little bit of religion.
 Freedom of Press

Freedom of the press is similar to freedom of speech, but the press is limited to what it

can say. The exact definition of freedom of the press is the right to circulate opinions on print

without censorship by the government. Freedom of press is very important for people to

understand, especially journalists because although the first amendment guarantees freedom of

press, some stuff is just unacceptable. An example of Freedom of Press is the case “The

Pentagon Papers: New York Times Co. vs. United States in 1971”. At that time, the government

was being ran by President Nixon. Also, around this time was the Vietnam War so of course the

papers were going to write about what was going on. However, President Nixon did not agree.

President Nixon issued a temporary injunction ordering that the papers not publish anything

about the Vietnam War. He also claimed that by them writing about the war, it is also

endangering national security. Of course, the New York Times did not agree, and they appealed.

They argued that prior restraint violated the First Amendment. By prior restraint, it means an

order not to print information before it’s actually printed. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled in

favor of the New York Times, 6-3. Another popular case was Tinker vs. Des Moines School

District in 1969. It was still in the time frame of the Vietnam War. Several students wanted to

wear black armbands to school to protest against the Vietnam War. The school heard about this

and decided to adopt a no-band rule. Although the school officials said no, the students did it

anyway. The officials of the school were going back and forth with the students, while the

students were claiming violation of their First Amendment rights. Although this may have been a

disruption to the school, and the surrounding area, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the

students. The court stated, “the school officials cannot censor student speech unless school
officials reasonably forecast that the speech will cause a material and substantial disruption of

school activities or collide with the rights of others. Mere apprehension of disturbance or an

offense in not enough.” (Amendment Center, F. (2018, March 1). The Five Freedoms - Court

Case. Retrieved March 01, 2018, from

http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/case.aspx?id=404)

Freedom of Religion

Freedom of religion prohibits the government from establishing a “state” religion and from

favoring one religion over another. (History.com Staff. (2017). First Amendment. Retrieved

March 01, 2018, from http://www.history.com/topics/first-amendment). There have been

multiple cases dealing with religious matters in America. One cases would be Frazee vs. Illinois

Department of Employment Security in 1989. In this case, the free exercise clause of the first

amendment by allowing a Christian to not work on Sunday was denied unemployment benefits.

Frazee denied working on Sunday because that was a part of his religion. The job he worked for

fired him. He tried to get unemployment benefits, but the Department of Employment Security

denied him as well. The reason they denied him was because Frazee was not attending a church,

nor was he attending a church on Sunday. Unanimously, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of

Frazee. The Court stated that although Frazee didn’t attend a church, they still shouldn’t deny

him unemployment benefits. He still had beliefs that he believed in, and like stated before

although he didn’t attend church, they had to abide by his beliefs. The Supreme Court said denial

of compensation violated the clause. There are definitely many other cases that deal with the

freedom of religion, but this was a very interesting case. (E., & L. (1992). Frazee v. Illinois
Department of Employment Security 489 U.S. 829 (1989). Retrieved March 01, 2018, from

https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/frazee-v-

illinois-department-employment-security-489-us-829-1989)

Conclusion

Although this paper discusses different cases regarding freedom of speech, freedom of

press, and freedom of religion, there are still many more cases regarding each one of these. The

First Amendment is a very important amendment. Everyone should know when they have the

right to do something or have the right to say something. Everyone should know that they are

covered by the First Amendment. Especially as journalist, it’s great to know that we have the

freedom to say and write whatever we want. Only because we are covered by the First

Amendment.