Task
By the end of this WebQuest, you should be able to answer the following essential questions:
- What freedoms does the First Amendment guarantee?
- How do we use the five freedoms in our daily lives?
- When, why and how are limits placed on these freedoms?
- What exceptions to First Amendment protections has the Supreme Court identified?
Process
1. Allowed or not allowed?
To begin, write down your answers to the following five questions: You may not know the answers at this point, which is ok. At the end you will have an opportunity to revisit these questions.
Read each of the following scenarios. If you think the action described is allowed under the First Amendment, write "yes" on your handout. If you think the action described is not allowed, write "no." Include your answer to why you think your answer is correct.
1. A student refuses to participate in the pledge of allegiance with the rest of his class. He says it is against his religion to say the pledge. He sits quietly in his seat while the rest of the class stands and says the pledge.
Is this allowed? YES NO
Why do you think this?
2. A group of college students who oppose U.S. involvement in foreign wars gathers in a public park and burns an American flag as a symbol of their protest.
Is this allowed? YES NO
Why do you think this?
3. A newspaper receives top-secret documents that show that the government has been lying about its involvement in an ongoing war. The newspaper publishes the documents to reveal the truth to the public.
Is this allowed? YES NO
Why do you think this?
4. A group of white supremacists (people who believe descendants of white Europeans are superior to other people) gather in Washington, D.C., and march to the U.S. Capitol. They have a permit for their event and march calmly while chanting and carrying signs that harshly criticize other races.
Is this allowed? YES NO
Why do you think this?
5. A group of people with cancer, including several teenagers, believe that marijuana could help ease their suffering. They organize a petition to gather signatures from voters who believe that the state should pass a law allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients as a form of medical treatment.
Is this allowed? YES NO
Why do you think this?
2. The First Amendment
Write down four facts about the First Amendment.
You might answer these questions: Whom does it affect? What does it do for people? Where did it come from? Where could I find it? When was it written? Why does it even exist?
The First Amendment protects the rights of Americans, guaranteeing five freedoms. What are they? Write them on your study guide.
Hint: If you don't know the five freedoms, look around this classroom. You shouldn't need to go online to find the answer.
List six ways your life would be different if we didn’t have the First Amendment.
3. What are some landmark Supreme Court cases which have to do with the freedom associated with my high school newspaper?
The freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment have been the focus of a few key Supreme Court cases.
Use the links provided to research online to learn the circumstances of two court cases and explain how the Supreme Court's decision affects high school journalism today. Complete the study guide questions.
4. Find a news article about a current First Amendment issue/controversy or a First Amendment-related case before the courts.
Complete the study guide questions.
Evaluation
Return to the first section:
1. Allowed or not allowed?
Revisit the questions and your answers from the beginning. If you would like to revise your answers, feel free to do that. Include your answer to why you think your answer is correct.
Credits
Resources:
http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/speech.aspx
https://newseumed.org/artifact/value-of-first-amendment/
http://ncac.org/resource/first-amendment-in-schools
The New York Times has an index of First Amendment-related stories: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/us_constitution/first_ame ndment/index.html (Many other news organizations have similar lists that can be found by using the search function on their homepages.)
Oyez: A multimedia judicial archive of the Supreme Court of the United States
Oyez (pronounced oh-yay), a free law project from Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII), Chicago-Kent College of Law and Justia.com, is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone.
First Amendment cases Summaries and decisions from historical and current First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court
https://www.oyez.org/issues/first_amendment
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1968/21
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1987/86-836
SCOTUSblog covers Supreme Court cases: http://www.scotusblog.com/
Search “First Amendment” to find a list of case pages about First Amendment cases.
Supreme Court Of The United States blog: First Amendment cases
In-depth summaries and analyses of recent and current First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court http://www.scotusblog.com/?s=First+Amendment&searchsubmit=Blog