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Show ~5peciaVFeatiire!f r\ Tlw First A the U.S. Constitution / of th< "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the u -i 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." How well do you know your rights? The First Amendment was written more than 200 years ago, but it remains just as relevant today. The 45 words have been the basis of some of the most important court decisions in the United States from flag burning to school prayer, from song lyrics to hate speech. And while the First Amendment was established to protect many of our basicfreedoms,few of us know much about it. To test your knowledge, take this quizfromthe Student Press Law Center and see if you're ready for the courts... or in need of a historyrefreshercourse. before, he takes his fliers to the town square, where he peacefully offers copies to passers-by. Which of the following acts probably violates his First Amendment rights? a A police officer politely orders Bart to stop distribution and go home. b. A local merchant. In support of standardized testing, angrily rips the fliers out of Bart's hands and shreds them. c. Bart's mother, embarrassed by the hullabaloo, confiscates the fliers and grounds him for two weeks. d. All of the above. 1• O i At what age does the First Amendment officially begin to protect a person'sfreespeech rights? a. 18 The Bill of Rights is: a. The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. b. The statement police must read to you when you arc arrested. c. The opening paragraph of die Declaration of Independence. d. The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution. Z i The First Amendment protects students while at school. a. True b. False b. 21 c. 16 d. None of the above 9 B Can a reporter be jailed for refusing a judge's order to reveal the identity of his or her news source? a. Yes b. No l U i A local 14-year-old girl was recently found guilty of mastermindO > Which of the following is not ing a dog-napping ring, which had shaken the community for months. a right explicitly protected by the Though the legal proceedings were First Amendment? closed to the public because she was a, Press b. Privacy charged as a minor, a trusted source c. Assembly d. Religion has confirmed that the judge today sentenced the girl to four years in a *9u The Constitution prohibits public school teachers from teach- juvenile detention center. You are the editor of die community newspaper ing about religion in school. who must decide how to cover the a. True b. False story. Which of the following options 5 i Which of the following cate- would the First Amendment protect? gories of speech is never protected a. Because the girl is a minor by the First Amendment? and the proceedings were closed to a. Indecent speech on the the public, you choose not to pubInternet lish the story. b. Four-letter words b. YoupubNsh the story The Bill of Rights was not included when the U.S. Constitution was signed on Sept 17,1787, because many of the Founding Fathers thought it was unnecessary. But after much debate, the first 10 amendments were ratified on Dec. 16,1791. James Madison, above, wrote the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which guaranteed the essential freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly, and the right fo petition the government Answers '¥ 1. a. The U.S. Constitution was signed on Sept, 17, 1787. Following much debate, the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — went into effect on Dec. 15,1791, guaranteeing the essential freedoms we now rely on to protect citizens from excessive governmental power. 2. a. In its landmark decision, Tinker v. Des Moines Ihdep, Community School DisL. 393 U.S. 503 (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court, in what has become a much-quoted statement, ruled that neither "students (n)or teachers shed their constitutionalrightsto freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." 3. b. There are five freedoms explicitly protected by the First Amendment: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances, Privacy is not a right explicitly guaranteed by the US. Constitution, but rather has beenrecognizedby the Supreme Court to have evolved and "emanated" from the recognition of other constitutional rights. 4. b. The First Amendment prohibits government officials — including public school teachers — from endorsing or promoting a particular religion. It does not prohibit teachers from discussing or providing instructional materials about various religions and churches as part of a viewpoint-neutral, non-proselytizing curriculum where such discussion is relevant (e.g., history class discussion of the Reformation or the Holocaust). 6. c. Obscenity is a category of speech — defined by law — that is not protected by the First Amendment, Obscenity, however, is not the same as indecency, profanity or nudity and the First Amendment does protect — to at least some degree — such speech, 6. a. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that burning the American flag is constitutionally protected free speech. 7. a; The First Amendment only prohibits government officials — such us the police officer in this case — from restricting a citizen's free speech activities. Neither the local merchant nor Bart's mom fall into that category. While their actioas definitely limit Bart's speech, they do not violate the First Amendment, . 8, d. The First Amendment protects all citizeas, regardless of their age. Still, courts liave recognized that very young children may have more limited free speech protections under the First Amendment in certain con- 1 2 a The government can ban song lyrics that most people would find offensive. a. True b. False 1 3 i The First Amendment limits the authority of school officials to strip-search students. a. True b. False While the First Amendment restricts their authority lo actually censor the press, government officials must be permitted to simply read or view highly controversial news stories before a commercial newspaper or TV station publishes or airs them for the general public. a. True b. False • S i The church/state douse of the First Amendment prohibits students from praying in class before n test. a. True b. False Students cannot be forced to pledge allegiance to die flag. a. True b. False 1 7 • Betty is upset with her public school's proposed new dress code policy. She writes a column in which she explains why she opposes the policy. In the column, she criticizes the principal for using inaccurate statistics to support his position and urges her classmates to contact the school board to urge them to vote against the policy. Which of the following would be protected by the First Amendment? a. Using her home computer, Betty posts the column on her personal Web site. b. Betty publishes the column 1 on a fiicrjhjfehe crauetl ajWf in's offlg| She <$$& tlj^Jflfcr c. Obscenity ^ S g j ^ S ^ : f h classnSBf as they enter ffchool the girPs sentence but, because shi d . Nudity •' ' is a minor, you withhold her name, in the morning, c. Betty includes the column as O a The First Amendment protects c. You nin the story with accupart of a press release that she ;i person'srightto bum the American rate details of the crime, her senflag as a form of political protest tence, her name and a photo of her sends to local media. Following an interview with n local TV station, a. True b. False entering court with her parents. her comments criticizing the d. All of the above are legal. school policy and the principal arc # • Bart is ticked off. To make seen throughout the community, time for more standardized testing, Which of the following the public school he attends has d. The First Amendment procategories of speech is never prodecided to reduce recess to three tect* all of the above. tected by the First Amendment? minutes a day. To protest the a. Use of racial epithets school's decision, he publishes a b. Ridiculing a person's ethnicity l O » When a public school fully one-page flier thut says "Recess c. Speech that demenns a perfunds its student newspaper, public Rules! Standardized Testing son's gender high school principals have unlimDrools." As he has seen many d. Speech thai violates n perited authority to dictate its content. other community activists do son's legal right to privacy a. True b. False texts than older children and adults. 9. a. While both the First Amendment and so-called "shield laws" do provide some protection to reporters working with confidential sources and information, such protection is rarely absolute. Where a court decides tJuit the law does not protect a journalist, he or she may be ordered to cooperate. If they refuse, they may be subject to penally, including jail time. 10. d. The U.S, Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment protects the right of news organizations to publish accurate, lawfully obtained and newsworthy information about a minor. While some news organizations do not identify minors, they do so as a matter of editorial policy, not because the law requires it Finally, the fact that the proceedings were closed to the public does not prevent news media from reporting accurate information they lawfully obtain elsewhere. 11. d. The First Amendment does The Flret Amendment quiz by the Student Press Law Center was made possible by a grant from the Newspaper Association ot America Foundation. H » w i p a p « r ABOUT NAA FOUNDATION A U I The Newspaper Association ot mf Ammricn America Foundation strives to develop Foundation e n g a g e d and Itterate citizens In our diverse society through investment in and support ol programs designed to enhance student achievement through newspaper readership and appreciation of the First Amendment The Foundation* programB and products emphasize the use ot newspapers and other media by young people. Foundation support is concentrated in three primary focus areas: Newspapers In Education, ftuth Content and Readership and Student Newspapers. For more information on the NAA Foundation, visit www.naatoundatton.org. NAA Foundation contacts are Jim Abbott at (703) 9021730 or abboj@naa.org, and Sandy Woodcock at (703) 902-1732 or woods@naaorg. not protect an individual's right to publish material that invades another person's legal right to privacy. The First Amendment does protect — to at least some degree — the other listed types of speech activities, 12. b. The First Amendment proteas "offensive" speech in song lyrics (and in other published material) from government censorship, Note, liowever. that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can restrict when "indecent" speech is broadcast over the airwaves. 13. b. While the federal Constitution does restrict the authority of school officials to conduct strip searches, it is the Fourth Amendment — not the First — that protects students'rightsin such cases. 14. b. Most courts consider "prior review" (reading only) to be a form of unconstitutional prior restraint. In the context of commercial news media, the law prohibits nearly all mandatory prior review by government officials. In the context of high ABOUT THE STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER Since 1974, the Student Press Law Center has been the nation's only legal assistance agency devoted exclusively to educating htgh embodied In the First Amendment and supporting the student newa media in their struggle to cover Important Issues tree from censorship. The center provides free legal advice and Information as well as tow-cost educational materials for student Journalists on a wide variety of legal topics. In addition, the SPLC \ ( °P e r f l t e e a t o r r n a lAttorneyReterrel L I, Network ot approximately 160 lawyers " '" across the oountry who are available to provide free legal representation to local students when necessary. Approximately 2,500 student Journalists, teachers and others contact the center each year for help or Information. Cads come from all 50 etatee and the District ot Columbia. For more information on tha SPLC, visit www.8pte.org or call (703)807-1904. A"-^ ^ V ;> I school student media, administrators generally have more leeway to engage in prior review. Still, their authority to review content prior to publication Is not unlimited, and high school officials must adhere to recognized constitutional protections. 16. b. The First Amendment only prohibits government officials from endorsing or promoting a particular religion, It does not prohibit students from doing so on their own. For example, while it would be unlawful for a public school teacher to have his class recite the Lord's . Prayer prior to banding out a test, ;;^ nothing prohibits his students franv v quietly praying on their own. :•;•§ 16. a. The U.S. Supreme Court .. has held that students have a First' '•'' Amendment right to refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or salute the flag during school. 17. d. The First Amendment provides significant legal protection to non-school-sponsored, independent student speech. Public school officials ore prohibited from punishing or unreasonably interfering with students who engage in lawful (not libelous, obscene, etc.), independent speech activities — on or off-campus — that do not seriously inter- •,; fere with normal school activities. '• 18. b, Allocating taxpayer dollars and other public resources to support student media does not give a public school principal unlimited authority over a publication's content For more questions end r enswere on the the First Amendment, visit www.8plc.org. QUIZ SOURCE: STUDENT PRE0B LAW C6NTBB ADDITIONAL SOURCE. THg FlflBT AMBNDMBNT C6NTEH ' 'i'i |