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West Virginia State Board of Education V. Barnette
The Supreme court decided rather the First Amendment protected students in public schools from being forced to salute the American flag (or say the pledge of allegiance) or not. The ruling decided that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protects students for being able to salute if they want. -
Brandenburg V. Ohio
The imminent lawless action test was used when free speech protected by the first amendment can be revoked. the courts decided that hate speech is protected under the first amendment as long as it doesn't provoke violence. -
New York Times co V. United States
The Supreme Court had to decide rather New York Times and The Washington would be able to punish the classified(at this time) Pentagon Papers without government punishment or not. The ruling made it possible for them to post the papers freely. -
Cohen V. California
The Court held that the First Amendment prevented the conviction of Paul Robert Cohen for wearing a jacket that used swear words in a public California courthouse. The U.S supreme court reversed his conviction in a 5-4 vote. -
Lemon V. Kurtzman
The supreme court had to decide if states could give money to religious schools to hire teachers, even though the teachers couldn't teach religion. the court ruled in an 8-1 decision that the Pennsylvania's nonpublic elementary and secondary education act was named unconstitutional, violating the first amendment. -
New York V. Ferber
The supreme court had to decide if the First Amendment right to free speech would forbid states from being able to ban the sale of material showing kids in sexual activity. The court ruled unanimously that the first amendment did not forbid states from banning child pornography. -
R.A.V V. City of St. Paul
The U.S. Supreme Court held that an ordinance that didn't allow “fighting words” that were racially motivated was unconstitutional under the First Amendment. the ruling overturned a teenagers conviction for burning a cross on the lawn of an African-american family, -
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union
The court decided if the anti-indecency provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment. the vote was unanimously chosen that this did violate the first amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. -
Bartnicki V. Vopper
An unknown source taped a video of a labor official talking to other union people about a teachers strike. then Vopper, a radio commentator played a tape of the conversation on his public talk show. the parties argued that it was a violation of the Electronics communications privacy act. the court held that the broadcast was legal and protected by the first amendment. -
Virginia V. Black
The supreme court had to decide if it would be legal or illegal to burn a cross in public to intimidate others. Virginia's argument was upheld by a 6-3 margin, making it illegal.
