LibGuides: United States Constitution: Amendment 1. Speech

First Amendment Project

The First Amendment Project
DVD 2004
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A compilation of three short films about the current state of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in the United States.
Summary: Fox vs. Franken: when comedian Al Franken used Fox News' phrase "Fair and balanced" in his satiric book, the network sued. Fox lost in court and Franken earned national notoriety with a bestseller.
Summary: Poetic license: explores the implications of state-sponsored art through the story of New Jersey Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka and the outrage that erupted after a perfomance of his controversial poem, "Somebody blew up America," which is about the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Summary: Some assembly required: documents protestors at the 2004 Republican National Convention and examines the public's right to protest versus the need for public security.

Freedom of Speech

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Principles of Free Speech

Types of Speech

Pure speech: Limited to spoken words, such as debates.
Speech-plus: Speech with action, such as demonstrations.
Symbolic speech: Conduct conveying a message, such as "taking the knee" during the National Anthem.
Commercial speech: Speech that is economic in nature.
The right not to speak.
Hate speech: Bigotted speech.
Fighting words: A verbal assault.
Government speech.

Speech in Public Forums

Constitutional as long as it does not interfere with another constitutional right.
Government must be content-neutral about citizens' speech.
Government can communicate its own message and make value choices.
A local government may issue a "time, place and manner" regulation.
The government can take sides and choose which organizations and persons to fund.
Campaign finance laws and activities are subject to the protections of the 1st Amendment.

Types of unconstitutional laws and regulations

Prevention (from the exercise of 1st Amendment rights): When a law has a chilling effect on Freedom of Speech.
Overbreath: Restricts both protected unprotected speech and does not narrowly serve a government's legitimate purpose.
Vagueness: Law or regulation is not clear and specific, discriminates or gives too much discretion to officials.

Unprotected Free Speech

Obscenity: The Miller Test for Obscenity (Miller v California,1973).
- Offends community standards.
- Sexual conduct prohibited by law.
- Lacks serious value.
Exception: Possession of obscene material is protected.
Nude dancing.
Defamation of another person's character not protected.
- Slander: spoken word defamation
- Libel: printed word defamation
- Broader standards used for public figures.
Some commercial speech.
Certain places may limit some speech: military bases, prisons, schools.
Speech that incites unlawful behavior.

Some Free Speech Rulings

Abrams v United States (1919): In his dissent, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. refers to freedom of speech as "the free trade of ideas", later called "the marketplace of ideas."
Gitlow v New York (1925): First case the Supreme Court applied a Bill of Rights to the States under the umbrella of the 14th Amendment.
Thornhill v Alabama (1940): Peaceful picketing.
West Virginia Board of Education v Barnette (1943): Saluting the flag.
The PEOPLE v. Bruce (1964): Comedy as social commentary.
United States v O'Brien (1968): Draft card burning.
Brandenburg v Ohio (1969): Inflammatory speech.
Texas v Johnson (1989): Flag burning.
Virginia v Black (2003): Cross burning.
Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell (1988): Libel of a public figure, using satire.
Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L. (2021): Student's off-campus speech.

Source: The Bill of Rights: a user's guide.

Some banned and challenged classic books in the U.S.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1984 by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Animal Farm by George Orwell

Source: ALA Banned and Challenged Books

Additional resources for Banned Books Week:

Banned Books Week
by Stephanie Maatta Last Updated Sep 23, 2024 293 views this year

Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce, Free Speech Advocate
Public Domain

Freedom of Speech Movies

Dirty Pictures
DVD 2000
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Following vaguely in the footsteps of The People vs. Larry Flint, Dirty Pictures is a provocative retelling of an all-too-true story about the 1990 attempts to censor the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center's controversial Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibit. The film gets directly at a quintessential, core principle that continues to fascinate Americans: Who gets to decide what forms of expression are valid? Does the constitutional right to freedom of expression apply to forms of expression you don't like? This film blends stock footage of both sides of the Cincinnati debate with actors' reenactments. James Woods's performance as the art museum's director Dennis Barrie is particularly impressive. The juxtaposition of real and fictional footage is extremely effective, and the result is a compellingly intelligent and emotionally gripping look at the issues of right-wing censorship in the arts.
The film contains images of Mapplethorpe's work and interpretations of its contexts and histories as well as insightful interviews with some of the subjects whose photos appeared in the original exhibit. But the art takes a back seat to the true hero of the film--the U.S. Constitution and its defenders.
Fahrenheit 451
DVD 1966
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Werner stars as a fireman in charge of burning books in a future where reading is a crime. Christie plays a dual role as his wife and his book-collecting mistress.
The Front
DVD 1976
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The Front is both a comic delight and perhaps the most graceful act of show business revenge in cinema history. Written by, directed by, and starring various talents blacklisted during the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s entertainment industry, the film stars Woody Allen as Howard, a cashier and bookie approached by blacklisted television-writer Alfred (Michael Murphy) to act as a "front," i.e., the alleged author of Alfred's works. The scam proves hugely successful. Soon Howard is fronting for several other banned writers, taking a cut from every sale to the networks, and basking in praise (and romantic attentions) for his prolific talent. It all unravels when congressional investigators dig into Howard's past for Communist ties and squeeze him to name others with supposed links to the Red Menace.
Galileo
DVD
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his bio-pic is about Galileo, the 17th century Italian who laid the foundations of modern science. Galileo made himself one of the world's first telescopes and discovered the moons of Jupiter. He supported Copernicus' theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun. This brought him into conflict with the Catholic Church. By threatening him with torture, the Church forced him to recant his views in front of a tribunal, and sentenced him to house arrest. However, Galileo's trials and theories inspired others like Newton and Kepler to prove that the Earth was not the center of the Universe.
Hollywood Censorship Wars
DVD
Lenny
DVD 1974
Storm Center
DVD 1956
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A librarian refuses to remove a book called The communist dream from the public library when the city council tells her to do so.
Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
DVD (2017)
Trumbo
DVD
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The successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs. It tells the story of his fight against the U.S. government and studio bosses in a war over words and freedom, which entangled everyone in Hollywood from Hedda Hopper and John Wayne to Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.