Amendment+1+(3)


 * What the amendment actually states: 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.

What it means: Congress can't make laws that interfere with the freedom of religion, speech, press, petition, or assemble. Or else it will be made unconstitutional. **
 * **Freedom of Religion:** The right to practice the religion of one's choice, or to be a non-believer.
 * **Freedom of Speech:** Freedom to express oneself, either verbally or non-verbally, that is symbolically.
 * **Freedom of Press:** The right, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to publish and distribute information in books, magazines, and newspapers without the government intervention.
 * **Freedom to Assemble and Petition:** The right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances; guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Speech includes much more than verbal oration and need not include any words. The expression of artists, including the use of symbolism, is protected under the First Amendment. The wearing of armbands with a peace symbol was protected during the Vietnam War as symbolic speech protected under the First Amendment. (//Tinker v. Des Moines School District//, 393 U.S. 503 [1969]) Yet the burning of a draft card was not considered protected speech but an illegal behavior violating the Selective Service rules (//United States v. O'Brien//, 391 U.S. 367 [1968]).
 * Example Case:**

A continuing issue is the precise nature of artistic and symbolic speech that is protected versus behavior that is not. Justice David Souter recently listed some of the forms of artistic expression protected under the First Amendment which have been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court: painting, music, poetry, motion pictures, dramatic works, radio and television entertainment, drawings, and engravings. (//NEA v. Finley//, No. 97-371, 1998)

Period 3 (2009)