Freedom of Speech

Are there limits on free speech?

• No

• Yes

Which of the following statements about free speech is true?

• The primary reason we have it (in our country) is to allow for criticism of the government.

• Historically, most countries around the world also  have had constitutions that. protect free speech.

• In America, our constitutional right to free speech allows us to say whatever to whoever we want whenever we want without penalty.

If you speak badly about the President or a member of the government you will get in trouble.

• True

• False

In the case of Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1968 the Supreme Court ruled that

• free speech was protected at the federal level, but states could set limits on it within their state.

• the Ku Klux Klan was a hate group and therefore their right to free speech was subject to limits.

• even political speech that is offensive, and encourages violence, is protected so long as it is not immediately followed by violence.

In the Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. v. Schenk in 1917, Oliver Wendell Holmes used the analogy that free speech "does not protect the person who yells fire in a crowded theater" to illustrate that

• if you criticize the government in a crowded place like a theater, it may not be protected.

• when your speech represents a clear and present danger, meaning it causes people to get hurt, it is not protected under free speech.

• free speech is generally not protected when the country is at war.

Symbolic speech is also protected under the first amendment, but it is not unlimited.  Which of the following forms of symbolic speech would NOT be protected under the first amendment?

• Holding up an offinsive sign at a school function 

• Burning an American flag.

• Wearing an arm band in protest of a war.

Even hate speech is considered freedom of speech and is protected by the First Amendment 

• True

• False

All of the following are protected under the "free speech" clause of the First Amendment EXCEPT:

• spending money on a political commercial

• hate speech

• words that are likely to result in violence breaking out or "fighting words"

In the case of Pickering v. Board of Education, a school teacher who was fired for publicly criticizing the school board (his employer) in the end got his job back because

• the court ruled that since he taught at a private school, he was not subject to the same rules.

• the court ruled that since he was a public school teacher, the government was his employer and therefore it was a violation of his 1st amendment rights.

• the court ruled that since he was only a year away from retirement that firing him from his job was a form of cruel and unusual punishment.