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Schenk v. united staes
Schenck and others had been accused of urging draftees to oppose the draft and "not submit to intimidation." The court ruled that not all speech is protected, saying the now famous example of falsely crying "fire" in a crowded theatre. In that case its freedom of speech. -
Evans v. selma union hs
The California State Supreme Court held that the King James version of the Bible was not a "publication of a sectarian, partisan, or denominational character" that a State statute required a public high school library to exclude from its collections. The "fact that the King James version is commonly used by Protestant Churches and not by Catholics" does not "make its character sectarian," the court stated. -
Near v. Minnesota
Near v. Minnesota was a United States Supreme Court decision that recognized the freedom of the press by roundly rejecting prior restraints on publication, a principle that was applied to free speech generally in subsequent jurisprudence. The Court ruled that a Minnesota law that targeted publishers of "malicious" or "scandalous" newspapers violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Legal scholar and columnist Anthony Lewis called Near the Court's "first great press case. -
west virginia state board of education v. barnette
Decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protected students from being forced to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. -
McCollum v. Board of Education
McCollum v. Board of Education was a landmark case ruled upon by the United States Supreme Court in 1948, and related to the power of a state to use its tax-supported public school system in aid of religious instruction. The case was an early test of the separation of church and state with respect to education -
Brown v. Louisiana
Brown v. Louisiana was a United States Supreme Court case based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It held that protesters have a First and Fourteenth Amendment right to engage in a peaceful sit-in at a public library. Justice Fortas wrote the plurality opinion and was joined by Justice Douglas and Justice Warren. Justices Brennan and Byron White concurred. Justices Black, Clark, Harlan and Stewart dissented. -
Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell
Hustler Magazine published a parody of a liquor advertisement in which Rev. Jerry Falwell described his first time as a drunken encounter with his mother in an outhouse. A unanimous Supreme Court held that a public figure had to show actual malice in order to recover for intentional infliction of emotional distress as a result of a parody in a magazine. The Court could see no standard to distinguish among types of parodies that would not harm public discourse. -
Texas v. johnson
In this case the Supreme Court held that burning the United States flag was a protected form of symbolic political speech -
Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. FCC
In a decision that produced six opinions, the Supreme Court upheld a federal law permitting cable system operators to ban "indecent" or "patently offensive" speech on leased access channels. The Court also struck down a similar law for non-leased, public access channels, and struck down a law requiring indecent material to be shown on separate, segregated cable channels. The case is significant in that the Court affirmed that protecting children from some speech is a compelling state interest. -
Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe
Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court. It ruled that a policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at high school football games violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Oral arguments were heard March 29, 2000. The court announced its decision on June 19, holding the policy unconstitutional in a 6-3 decision. School prayer is a controversial topic in American jurisprudence.
