When Thomas Jefferson and James Madison drafted the Bill of Rights, they put the First Amendment first because it protected the freedoms they considered most basic and fundamental: the right to hold beliefs, and the right to express them.
Over two centuries later, the right to free speech is still relatively rare and still controversial. Read more about why below.
The First Amendment: Text, Origins, and Meaning
Copyright © 2005 Kyle and Kelly Adams. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Our right to free speech is protected in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Find out what the amendment really says about speech, press, assembly, and the right to petition.
Don Imus and Free Speech
Photo: Copyright © 2005 Eric E. Yang. Licensed under Creative Commons.
The Don Imus controversy has created a new free speech debate in the United States, namely: Should corporations have the right to fire controversial media personalities? Even if they have that right, should they exercise it? I weigh the issue here, and come to a conclusion that some readers might consider surprising.
Top 10 "Obscene" Literary Classics
Photo: Copyright © 2005 Tom Murphy. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Many of our most cherished literary classics were once considered filthy smut unfit for human consumption. We've come a long way, baby.
Newt Gingrich and Free Speech: A New Sedition Act?
Image courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Former House Speaker and potential 2008 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has suggested that our understanding of the First Amendment is incompatible with success in the War on Terror. What he seems to suggest is that we return to an old law called the Sedition Act, which criminalized speech that was critical of the U.S. government.
A History of Flag Burning Laws in the United States
Image courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Flag desecration laws originally came about in the decades following the Civil War, as much to protect the trademark of the U.S. flag as to punish critics of the government. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court declared laws banning flag desecration to be unconstitutional. Read up on the strange and fascinating 90-year history of laws banning flag burning.
Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006) and Whistleblower Protection
Photo: Copyright © 2006 Tobias Freyer. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2006 Ceballos whistleblower case argue that it ends whistleblower protection, forcing all government employees to keep a code of silence. This interpretation of the ruling is, to put it gently, flawed.
Internet Censorship and the Child Online Protection Act (COPA)
Image courtesy of the White House.
In 1995, the Communications Decency Act struck fear into the heart of hot xxx free porn searchers everywhere. After the Supreme Court struck it down, Congress tried again in 1998 with COPA--a law that has been in judicial limbo for nine years. Check up on its current status, and take a look back at the history of federal Internet anti-indecency laws.
