Ilias 1st Amendment

New Organization

Mar 1, 1920

1920
Roger Baldwin and others start up a new organization dedicated to preserving civil liberties called the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

U.S. Supreme Court reverses the state court conviction

Mar 1, 1931

the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the state court conviction of Yetta Stromberg, 19-year-old female member of the Young Communist League, who violated a state law prohibiting the display of a red flag as “an emblem of opposition to the United States government.” Legal commentators cite this case as the first in which the Court recognizes that protected speech may be nonverbal, or a form of symbolic expression.

Espionage and Sedition Acts.

Mar 1, 1933

1933
President Franklin D. Roosevelt pardons those convicted under the Espionage and Sedition Acts.

Life magazine

Mar 1, 1938

1938
Life magazine is banned in the U.S. for publishing pictures from the public health film “The Birth of a Baby.”

U.S. Supreme Court strike

Mar 5, 1940

1940
In Thornhill v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down an Alabama law prohibiting loitering and picketing “without a just cause or legal excuse” near businesses. The Court writes: “The freedom of speech and of the press guaranteed by the Constitution embraces at the least the liberty to discuss publicly and truthfully all matters of public concern without previous restraint or fear of subsequent punishment.”

National Broadcasting Co. v. United States,

Mar 5, 1943

1943
In National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court states that no one has a First Amendment right to a radio license or to monopolize a radio frequency.

U.S. Supreme Court allows the NAACP

Mar 5, 1958

1958
The U.S. Supreme Court allows the NAACP of Alabama to withhold its membership list from Alabama lawmakers. In NAACP v. Alabama, the Court states that the demand by Alabama officials for the NAACP to provide them a membership list violates members’ associational rights.

U.S. Supreme Court rules in Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton

Mar 1, 1973

1973
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton that a state may constitutionally prohibit exhibitions or displays of obscenity, even if access to the exhibitions is limited to consenting adults.

gag order imposed

Mar 5, 1976

1976
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a gag order imposed on the press in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart. The Court writes that “prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights.”

New York v. Ferber

Mar 5, 1982

1982
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in New York v. Ferber that child pornography is not protected by the First Amendment.

Lee v. Weisman

Mar 5, 1992

1992
The U.S. Supreme Court determines in Lee v. Weisman that an administrative policy allowing religious invocations at public middle and high school graduation ceremonies violates the establishment clause.

Cutter v. Wilkinson

Mar 5, 2005

2005
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Cutter v. Wilkinson that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act does not violate the establishment clause in the prison context.