Blog 3: The First Amendment in Today's Society

    The First Amendment has become one of the most talked about Amendments of the Constitution.

The First Amendment has six main clauses/freedoms:

1. Freedom from Religion

2. Freedom of Religion

3. Freedom of Press

4. Freedom of Speech

5. Freedom of Petition

6. Freedom of Assembly

    Even though these clauses seem pretty straight forward, there have been some disputes about what is condoned and what is not condoned in the First Amendment. For example, hate speech has been repeatedly ruled by the Supreme Court that it is protected under the First Amendment. Hate speech is abusive or threatening expressions that is prejudice against a group of people. Since it is not an act of violence, it is considered free speech. The Court has also ruled that obscenity, child pornography, or speech that constitutes what has become widely known as “fighting words” is not protected by the First Amendment. Fighting words are words that are meant to inflict injury or harm people. It is meant to physically harm someone; therefore, it is not protected by the First Amendment.

 

    Since the Black Lives Matter movement picked back up, the Supreme Court has had to clarify some of these rights that are protected by the First Amendment. Many people have tried to say that hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment all because they disagree with this movement. Right-winged people have tried to shut down this movement while the left-wings keep it up and running. Some of the BLM movement has turned into a political battle and both sides are looking for someone to blame. People are trying to use the First Amendment to say that what some of the protestors are doing is not protected by it. Needless to say, the protests are protected under the First Amendment and so is hate speech.