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Davis v. Massachusetts
In Massachusetts there was a local ordinance where it prohibited public addresses without permission from the mayor. So Davis was making a public address and was convicted and jailed. He appealed his case and lost because the state has the right to exercise power over public property -
Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow was arrested because he was a strong left wing newspaper author. He wrote a left wing manifesto and was arrested in New York and was charged under New York's criminal anarchy Law. Which basically punishes people who try to overtake the government. He appealed his case and won. The judges conclude that what he said was not to dangerous to create an uproar in society -
Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire
Chaplinsky was distributing some religious content when a town marshal of a different religion started harassing him. He called the marshal "a God-damned racketeer" and "a damned Fascist." He was arrested and charged. He appealed his case because he believed that he was protected under the first amendment. However, he lost because the judges said since what he said caused direct harm and could fall under fighting words which is not protected by the first amendment. -
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette
Students at a west Virginia school were required to salute to the flag at the start of the day. However Barnette was a Jehovah witness which it is against their religion to salute to anything. The students were removed from the school and they sued after the fact. The students won the case because the judges found it to violate the first amendment to force kids to salute to the flag. -
Kunz v. New York
New York had a law where you needed a permit to speak on religious matter in public. Kunz was arrested on that charge and thought this was unconstitutional so he challenged them in court. He won the case and won because the judges thought that the law was too broad -
Pickering v. Board of Education
Pickering, a school employee, complained on how the school was using its funds. He was outraged that a lot of the funds went towards athletics instead of academics. Pickering was terminated because the board thought that his letter would cause outrage in the community. He sued the board of education and in supreme court it got ruled that his letter was protected by the first amendment -
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
Students in the Des Moines school district were peacefully protesting the vietnam war with black armbands. The schools suspended the students because the school was a supporter of the war. The students brought the school district to court where they were proved that they were protected by the first amendment and the school had no power to do what they did -
Cohen v. California
A 19 year old Cohen was working in a warehouse when he decided to wear a shirt that said "F*** the Draft" to work that day. He was arrested and he challenged the case. He was found innocent in the supreme court because he didnt direct the words to anyone personally." -
Bethel School District v. Fraser
Fraser, a student in Bethel school district, had a speech to give to 600 students. His speech was more of a joke and hid a bunch of sexual metaphors in it as a joke. However the school found the speech inappropriate and suspended him. Fraser believed that his first amendment right was violated and challeged the case. In the supreme court it was found that the school had the right to prohibit vulgar and lewd speech. -
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul
Several teenagers burned a cross in an African american person lawn, and the teenagers got arrested for local bias motivated crime. The teenagers believed that it was a violation of there first amendment right to express themselves. In which the supreme court ruled that it was against the first amendment right and said that a court system couldnt take sides so the charge was overruled.
