Dalaney Shelton

English 113
Research Paper Draft #1
2-4-15
Amendment I
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.

As United States citizens living in the US, free speech is a

cornerstone of our society that we take for granted on a daily basis. We
forget that not many countries have the same fully expressed freedom.

The US Constitution was written and signed in 1787. However, it

didnt go into affect until it was ratified; this process was completed on
June 21, 1788 when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify.
The Constitution is the fundamental structure for our government. It
puts power into the peoples hands, sets up the checks and balances
the system, is the dividing power between state and federal
government, gives the definition of the governments power and its
duties, separates the government into the legislative, executive, and
judicial branches, determines how we elect new representatives,
formulates the ratification and amendment processes of documents,

and last but not least it defines many of our right and freedoms.
(Constitution FAQs)

Involved with Freedom of Speech is freedom of the press, hate

speech, censorship, government-regulated speech, defamation, libel,
and sedition.
There are many, many law cases that have to do with free speech.
Allen Derschowitz, one of the most famous current lawyers in America,
handled many cases on free speech. In his book Taking the Stand, he
talks about many of his cases that concerned free speech.
One I distinctly remember is the WikiLeaks case. WikiLeaks was a
website where people could anonymously send in information about
any topic. One person sent in confidential government information that
endangered national security. The government sued Julian Assange. He
was the one who posted the information given to him by others. His
argument was that he was merely the supplier of the information; {he
was merely relaying something that someone gave him.}(Re word this
sentence) His job was to vet the material, make sure the names and
dates were correct. Unlike other investigative journalist, Assange did
not actively go after the information. He never paid them as incentive
or met them in secret. He just received anonymous information, made
sure it was safe to publish, and then made it available to the public.

But because something he published revealed state secrets he was

being sued.

A very recent Supreme Court case concerning free speech is

Snyder v. Phelps in 2011. This case specifically dealt with fighting
words and hecklers veto.
Albert Snyder sued Fred Phelps and the Phelps Westboro Baptist
Church for intentional infliction of emotional distress. On March 10,
the Church was picketing Alberts son, Matthews, funeral. Matthew
was a US Marine Lance Corporal. The Phelps and the church were
protesting Americas increased tolerance of homosexuality, they had
done this at many funerals. They made several direct comments to the
Snyders about his son. Such as they raised him Catholic, which taught
him to defy his creator and that God was a liar. Snyder sued for
defamation, intrusion upon seclusion, publicity given to private life,
intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

It was argued back and forth, went through multiple courts and
eventually landed in the Supreme Court. They ruled in favor of Phelps,
agreeing that WBC stayed within the rules for picketing and that
Snyder should pay the court costs. This merely took into consideration
the picketing aspect of the case, not the Churchs on-line attack of the
Snyder family.
There was a false speech case in 2012, United States v. Alvarez. In the
case the Supreme Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act. This act criminalizes
false statements about having a military medal.

References
"First Amendment." First Amendment. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_amendment

"Constitution FAQs." National Constitution Center Constitutioncenter.org. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.

http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educationalresources/constitution-faqs/

Dershowitz, Alan M. Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law. New York: Crown, 2013.
Print.