First Amendment Timeline

By abbylamson

  • Patterson V. Colorado

    First free press case- SCOTUS determines it does not have jurisdiction to review the contempt conviction of U.S. senator Thomas Patterson for articles and a cartoon that criticized the state Supreme Court.

  • The Scopes Monkey Trial

    School teacher John Thomas Scopes is found guilty of violating a Tennesee law which prohibits teaching the theory of evolution in public schools.

  • Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire

    A court decided that the first amendment does not apply to “fighting words”. People couldn’t just say anything they wanted and there was a precedent set for examining the first amendment and what it should protect.

  • Tinker v. Des Moines

    Students begun wearing black armbands with peace signs to silently protest the Vietnam war. SCOTUS decided that students were allowed to protest in school as long as they did not cause ample disruption to educational proceedings. This case set the Tinker Standard regarding free speech at school.

  • New York Times Company v. United States

    The Nixon Administraion was ruled to be in violation of the First Amendment when they tried to censor publications such as The NY Times for publishing info on the Vietnam war. The first amendment in regards to the press were protected reporting about topics that the government deemed sensitive in nature.

  • Miller v. California

    SCOTUS ruled that a mans first amendment had not been violated when he was arrested for mass-advertisng his sale of adult material.

  • Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo

    SCOTUS invalidated a state law requiring newspapers to give free reply space to political candidates the newspaper criticize. Court ruled that the right of the newspaper editors to choose what they wish to print or not to print cannot be infringed to allow public access to the print media.

  • Wooley v. Maynard

    SCOTUS ruled that a state could not penalize a man for failing to dislpay the state's motto on his license plate. Wooley, found the words "Or die" to contrast his religion and subsequently removed from his license plate. In regards to the first amendment religion was extended to protection of materials such as a license plate.

  • Abood v. Detroit Board of Education

    SCOTUS declares that a state may require a public employee to pay dues to organizations such as unions and state bars, as long as the money is used for purposes such as collective bargaining and contract and grievance hearings.

  • Island Trees School District v. Pico

    SCOTUS maintained that schools have the ability to censor literature based on the content and appropriateness for students. Their reasoning was that the books are not censored from students for life, just while in school. Schools gained more standing in regards to the First amendment because there was a lot of advancement of the First amendment for students, but not for schools.

  • Texas v. Johnson

    SCOTUS ruled that flag-burning in legal under the First amendment because it is a method of expressing one's political opinions. People began to participate in increasingly-radical methods of political protests and they were protecting in doing so.

  • Snyder v. Phelps

    SCOTUS ruled that it is constitution for people to protect near military funerals. This ensured all forms of protest as long as they were peaceful and orderly, would be permitted in public, regardless if they are perceived as disrespectful.

  • Virginia v. Black

    Virginia State Court ruled that all cross-burning is illegal, regardless of if it does not incite fear or violence. The court struck down the statute to the extent that it considered cross-burning as prima facile(first encounter at first sight) evidence of intent to intimidate.

  • Morse v. Frederick

    A student was suspended for having a sign that said "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" on school property. The school's decision was upheld, the SCOTUS citing that the sign was in clear contrast to the public school's values. This sealed the Tinker standard as the method of ruling on cases of schools and the first amendment

  • McCullen v. Coakley

    SCOTUS unanimously held that Massachusetts' fixed abortion buffer zones, established via that state's Reproductive Health Care Facilities Act, violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because it limited free speech too broadly. Massachusetts failed to show that it tried less intrusive alternatives first. Associate Justice Samuel Alito filed an opinion stating that the law blatantly discriminates based on viewpoint.