Free+speech

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__Legislative Action__ //For each of the following Acts passed by Congres////s, identify the impact it had on freedom of speech; especially identify any "speech" that it limited.//

__Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)__ [Under the threat of war with France, Congress in 1798 passed four laws in an effort to strengthen the Federal government. Known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts, the legislation sponsored by the Federalists was also intended to quell any political opposition from the Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson. The last of the laws, the Sedition Act, passed on July 14 declared that any treasonable activity, including the publication of "any false, scandalous and malicious writing," was a high misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment. By virtue of this legislation twenty-five men, most of them editors of Republican newspapers, were arrested and their newspapers forced to shut down.] - **//Stephanie Narciso//**

__ Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) - __ These Acts made aliens are required to become a United States citizen from five years to fourteen years. It gave the right to deport any Alien that is a threat to the peace or the United States, and deport aliens if their home countries are at war with U.S.A. Also it made it a crime to publish false writings against the government. **- Anthony Hamilton**

The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in (1798) by the Federalists. They were claimed to have been designed to to protect the country from citizens of other countries residing in the United States and to prevent people from weakening the government. These Acts extended the duration of residence for aliens, authorized the president to be able to deport anyone seemingly dangerous or their home countries were at war with the United States, and made it a crime to publish false writing that opposed the government. This impeded people from speaking and publishing things freely. (Aditi Mishra)
 * Alien and Sedition Acts **

__Espionage Act (1917)__ Under the threat of war with France, Congress in 1798 passed four laws in an effort to strengthen the Federal government. Known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts, the legislation sponsored by the Federalists was also intended to quell any political opposition from the Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson. The last of the laws, the Sedition Act, passed on July 14 declared that any treasonable activity, including the publication of "any false, scandalous and malicious writing," was a high misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment. By virtue of this legislation twenty-five men, most of them editors of Republican newspapers, were arrested and their newspapers forced to shut down.

The Espionage Act was passed under the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. General Thomas Watt Gregory supported the act as well. It stated that any interference with the military operations during wartime was prohibited. If anyone didn't support our troops or interfered with any of the armed forces, they would be seen as pro-German and disloyal. This later led to the Sedition Act of 1918 which made amendments under the Espionage Act. These actions against the armed forces were seen as crimes and those who commited them were punished. **//Katrina Torres//**

__ Espionage Act (1917) __ this law was passed to stop any interference with the military. -**Anthony Hamilton**

**Espionage Act ** The Espionage Act was a federal law that was passed after the United States' entry into World War I. It did not tolerate any attempt to interfere with the military, support enemies of American during wartime, promote insubordination for the military, or interfere with recruitment. These violates Freedom of Speech because residents of the United States were not allowed to freely express how they felt about the war and which side they supported. (Aditi Mishra)

__Smith Act (1940)__ [The Smith Act 1940 made it an offense to advocate or belong to a group that advocated the overthrow of the government by force or violence. People under the Communist Party were now facing prosecution because of the act. They were accused of "they conspired to prganize as the Communist Party and willfully to advocate and teach the principles of Marxism-Leninism." However they defendants used the First Amendment as a defense. The speech that was limited was the "petition the Government for a redress of grievances."] - //**Alejandra Valencia**// __ Smith Act (1940)- __ Made it a federal crime offense if there’s a destruction in a government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes. **- Anthony Hamilton**

This prohibited anyone from causing destruction to the government by printing, publishing, editing, issuing, circulating, selling, distributing, or publicly displaying anything that suggested overthrowing the government. This obviously violate our right to freedom of speech through not allowing us to express any negative ideas whatsoever in relation to the government. (Aditi Mishra)
 * Smith Act / Alien Registration Act**

// **Megan Somme**r: Smith Act (1940): made it an crime to support or be a part of a group that advocated the violent overthrow of the government. In 1957 the U.S. Supreme Court restricted the petition of the Smith Act to instances of active participation in, or verbal encouragement of, specific insurrectionary activities. This specifically limited verbal speech. //

__Court cases__ //For each of the following Court cases do the following://
 * Nicole Harbert**: Smith Act aka The Alien Registration Act (1940): A law that prohibits the general public from taking violent action against the government in means of overthrowing the higher power and makes it into a punishable offense. If the defendants are accused of this crime it is considered a crime of conspiracy in support of the Communist party with principles of Marxism-Leninism, as the courts decision. This impacts a persons freedom because it limits their beliefs and how they can speak out against the government system. This limits their freedom of expression and their personal ideals for a government system and what they want for a leadership power, through limiting verbal speech.
 * //Briefly summarize the facts of the case//
 * //Explain the courts decision//
 * //identify the impact it had on freedom of speech; especially identify any "speech" that it limited//

__Schenck v United States (1919)__ // [Schenck v. United States //, 249 [|U.S.] [|47] (1919), was a [|United States Supreme Court] decision that upheld the [|Espionage Act of 1917] and concluded that a defendant did not have a [|First Amendment] right to free speech against the [|draft] during [|World War I]. [|Charles Schenck] was the Secretary of the [|Socialist party] and was responsible for printing, distributing, and mailing 15,000 leaflets to men eligible for the draft that advocated opposition to the draft. This case was known for yelling fire in public places. "This case is also the source of the phrase " [|shouting fire in a crowded theater] ", paraphrased from Holmes' assertion that "the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."] - //Stephanie Narciso//

__ Schenck v United States (1919) __ - Lorena Salaverria > > > > > >
 *  During WW1, U.S. War with Germany
 * Congress passed an Espionage Act (outlawing any attempt to foster insubordination or obstruct the draft.
 * Charles Schenck, general secretary of the Socialist Party
 * Arrested for conspiring to print and circulate leaflets that would obstruct and hinder the enlistment service of the U.S.
 * He argued that the Espionage act violated his right to freedom of speech and press.
 *  The Supreme Court held that in a time of war, extraordinary conditions may take effect where Congress has the right to forbid printed materials or speech aimed at hindering the war effort.
 * The test for “a clear and present danger” formulated to deal with ?’s regarding freedom of speech

Gitlow v New York (1925) // Gitlow v. New York' // s partial reversal of that [|precedent] began a trend toward nearly complete reversal; the Supreme Court now holds that almost every provision of the Bill of Rights applies to both the federal government and the states.

__ Gitlow v New York (1925) __ - Lorena Salaverria

> > > >
 *  Benjamin Gitlow, a member of radical of the Socialist Party
 * Charged with violating the New York State Criminal Anarchy Act of 1902 for writing.
 * “The Revolutionary Age” and the “Left Wing Manifesto”
 * He appealed, claiming tha the Act violated the “due process clause” of the 14th Amendment and his rights to freedom of these things.
 * The Supreme Court incorporated the freedoms of speech and press, beginning two decades worth of cases, which ultimately incorporated the entire 1st Amendment and many others.

Brandenburg v Ohio (1969) Clarence Brandenburg was a Ku Klux Klan member in Ohio and was proclaiming issues against the leading groups of our country suppressing the Caucasians in the United States. Ohio fined Brandenburg $1,000 and sent him to prison. The Supreme Court overruled Ohio's criminal syndicalism statute and favored Brandenburg because it only prohibited the exercise of violence and not speech. **//Katrina Torres//**

Tinker v Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) John, and Mary Beth Tinker along with Christopher Eckhardt protested against the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to school with a peace logo on them. They were warned not to wear it again as the school had prohibited wearing armbands. Despite this warning, the kids still violated the rules and were suspended from school. The parents of the kids took their case to court, then it eventually went to the Supreme Court, which backed the students' perspective and that the First Amendment applied to public schools. **//Katrina Torres//**

__Hazelwood School District v Kuhlmeier (1988)__

[This was the first time the Supreme Court held that public schools could put in place some limits on what appears in the school-sponsored student publications. The paper that was being questioned was the //Spectrum// which was from Hazelwood East High School. Before the paper was printed it would be reviewed by the principal but however for one of the issues it talked about teen pregnancy and divorce. The principal was not sure that the younger students would not be old enough for the content and since there was no time to rewrite the stories he just took them out. <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px;">The court decided in favor of Hazelwood School District since the paper was not a public forum and the paper was sponsored by the school. <span style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px;">The speech that was limited was freedom of press.]- **//Alejandra Valencia//**

//**Megan Sommer**: The Spectrum, the school-sponsored newspaper of Hazelwood East High School, was written and edited by students. And Robert E. Reynolds, the school principal, received these pages. Reynolds thought that two of the articles in the issue were inappropriate, and ordered that the pages on which the articles appeared be withheld from publication. Cathy Kuhlmeier and two other former Hazelwood East students brought the case to court. So the question was, “Did the principal's deletion of the articles violate the students' rights under the First Amendment”? (Oyez). It turns out that it didn't violate their rights.// //In a 5-to-3 decision, the Court felt that the First Amendment did not require schools to promote particular types of student speech. The Court held that schools must be able to set high standards for student speech disseminated under their auspices, and that schools retained the right to refuse to sponsor speech that was "inconsistent with 'the shared values of a civilized social order.'"//

__R.A.V. v St. Paul (1992)__ [On June 21, 1990 several teenagers got together and made a cross and burned it on the front yard of an African American family that lived across the street. The teenager was charged with two counts, one a violation of the St. Paul Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance. The accused wanted to dismiss the count because it was invalid under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court Ruling was that the First Amendment claim sustained. The speech that affected this was the right of the people peaceable to assemble.] -**//Alejandra Valencia//**

// **Megan Sommer:** Several teenagers allegedly burned a crudely fashioned cross on a black family's lawn. The police charged one of the teens under a local bias-motivated criminal ordinance, which prohibits the display of a symbol which "arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender." The trial court dismissed this charge. The state Supreme Court reversed. R.A.V. appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Simply stated, it was questioned if the ordinance overly broad and impermissibly content-based in violation of the First Amendment free speech clause? The conclusion was an overwhelming yes. In a 9-to-0 vote, the justices held the ordinance invalid on its face because "it prohibits otherwise permitted speech solely on the basis of the subjects the speech addresses” (Oyez.com) //

__What is the difference between slander and libel?__ Although Libel and slander both require publication. Libel is "<span style="font-family: sans-serif,helvetica,sans-serif;">harmful statement in a fixed medium, especially writing but also a picture, sign, or electronic broadcast" and slander is "(harmful statement in a transitory form, especially speech"-**Urayah Bellow**

__http://www.oyez.org/__ __http://www.streetlaw.org/en/Cases.aspx__ __ABC-Clio site__