FirstAmendment3

[|Christian College Student Sues] A christian student from California college sues California College for violation of free speech rights. The student was giving a speech about his opposition to same sex marriages when the professor forces him to sit down and calls him a fascist *&%$. Then when the student complained to another teacher the professor who got mad at the student threatened to expel him. I think this is a violation to the freedom of speech because the student is not being obscene or threatening but saying his opinion. -Yaseen N.

[|Student's freedom of speech] This article is about a girl who had an anti-war and pro-Obama sign taped to her window. Some people who saw this complained about it and said that this was obscenity. The principal told her to take it down or else she will be be expelled from the dorms. This violates the freedom of speech because this is not a threat and I don't know how people could consider this obscenity. She is just saying that she likes Obama but doesn't like war. -Yaseen N.

[|Voter I.D.] The article is about the Republicans plans for voter I.D. They think this will make voting fair and accurate. On the other hand the democrats think that it will make it harder for legitimate voters to vote. It applies with our class discussions because they want to change the constitution and we have been talking about that and how its very hard to change it. Also we discussed how its only been changed 27 times. -Daryl P.

[|Surpreme Court Case for Gay Marriage]This article is about the rights of marriage and if the gay community is going to be allowed to get married. A week ago in California, there was a case that was brought to the attention of a federal judge. The federal judge was in favor of this case. If the Supreme Court wants to hear it, all they have to do is get 5 Justices to approve the law. This is challenging but it can be done with persuasion. This applies to what is happening in class because we have been talking about how Bills become Laws and about the Bill Of Rights and peoples rights. I believe that marriage is part of our rights so this applies to what we have been talking about in class. -Hannah P.

[|Popular bracelet banned from schools] This article is about how a popular bracelet got banned from many school. Last year, the "I heart boobies" bracelets were banned from all over the country for the "explicit" words on them. Many kids were mad about having to turn the bracelet inside out or have to take it off, Some kids got detentions for it and some got suspensions. I think this is an infringement with The First Amendment. This bracelet was for a breast cancer cause and teachers didn't care about the foundation for the cause but rather the saying. This is an infringement of The First Amendment because you should have the freedom to express yourself in any way you want and in this case it was this bracelet. This applies to class because we just got finished talking about The First Amendment and expressing yourself as long as your rights. -Hannah P. [|Cussing makes a comeback in Chicago suburb] In this article, it says how the City Council eliminated a law that makes it illegal "to use profanity in any street, ally or public place of the city" Some people say it becomes a freedom of speech issue when there is anti-swearing law on the books, even when it isn't enforced. This information applies to our class discussions because we discussed about Freedom of Speech. We discussed if people are allowed to swear or threaten when they are stating their opinion. Robin J. [|Bills limiting lawsuits added to Legislature's jobs session] This bill impiments an immunity bill and cuts attornry fees. These Measures would cut interest rate, and curb medical cases. The new lower rates also would apply to certain consumer protection that is necessairy in the community. Most of the bills would give businesses more certainty, but Democrats and others ridiculed them for being included in a legislative session that is supposed to focus on job creation. Tommy I.

Wall Street protest stretches across NY Financial District For the third straight week on the Lower Manhattan Financial District, protesters assembled to protest because of the income inequality, corporate greed, high unemployment, corruption and many other topics. People are fed up and have the right to assemble. There right comes from the First Amendment, which says that you can "peaceably assemble." That is exactly what these protesters are doing, which is also expressing their freedom of speech. Without the First Amendment, the people would lose much of their power. - Osman M.

[|Cussing makes a comeback in Chicago suburb] In Chicago suburbs, they have now made it legal to swear publicly. Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski says, "It becomes a freedom-of-speech issue when there is an anti-swearing law on the books, even when it isn’t enforced." They have also made it legal to use abusive and obscene languages and gestures. These laws were made legal all because of the First Constitution. It is the people's freedom of speech to say those words, but I disagree because it could be charged as defamation of character. There must be a large population that swear in public and they were upset that it was illegal. - Osman M.

[|Tenn. teachers keep distances at flagpole prayer sessions] In Tennessee in Wilson County they have their annual See You at the Pole event which is an event where the school gets together and says some prayers. A teacher attended the event, but stepped aside when they began to pray. Also in Summer County the head football coach attended Henderson High School's events but was only there to supervise. This shows that even in schools there are some people who think that it is not right or doesn't feel comfortable saying prayers in a school district. They say it is ok to have these events of praying if only it is lead by students. -Alison M.

[|High court hears church-state appeal over 'ministerial' employee]- This article talks about the separation of church of state. A teacher named Cheryl Perich was on medical leave because she was diagnosed with narcolepsy. She tried to come back to the school, but the church officials would not let her because there was a substitute to take over for her. After weeks and weeks of fighting with the church, she was fired for regrettable conduct against church leaders. She sued, but lost because the government has no say in what the church can do. She is taking this to Supreme Court. Five years before, she became a church minister which means she could not be fired without cause. A ruling for this case is going to be next year. ~Vinay J.

=Occupy Wall Street... mansions= http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/10/news/economy/occupy_wall_street_protest/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2 This article deals with the First Amendment in the fact that it is the right to petition. A peaceful protest is a form of petitioning, and it is okay. Recently (three hours ago), many protesters demonstrated in front of many rich New Yorkers homes. They chanted, we are the 99%. This means that they are not the top 1% with tons of money. This relates to the class because it deals with the right to free speach and petition. -Michael K.

[|Stick Figures] A parent of a student at Ithaca High School filed a law suit because of a stick figure illustration that went along with an article about sex education in a school news paper. The school has said that this is not acceptable to have in their newspaper. Some freedom of speech advocates have complained that this decision has limited the students' freedom of speech and the students should be able to express themselves. -Cate W.

[|Gay-Straight Club Tshirt]At a public school, there was gay-straight alliance formed. The kids in that alliance all wore t-shirts that said “SQHS” and “Gay Straight Alliance: We’ve Got Your Back.” The principle verbally and physically assaulted the student for wearing the shirt. Because the principle assaulted the student he is punishing him for exercising his right to freedom of speech. -Cate W.

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/ex-worker-accuses-secretive-u-s-agency-of-anti-muslim-bias An ex-worker for a secret government agency claims that he lost his security clearance due to the fact that his wife attendend an islam school and worked for an Islam charity. This would be a violation of the establishement clause. The government cannot have any anti-any-religion biast. they cannon have any religious biast at all. The courts decided that that violated the first amendment; he got his job back withy full pay. Ethan S.

**Occupy Wall Street Entering Second Month of Demonstrations** [] Protestors on Wall Street are excersizing their 1st Ammendment rights of freedom to peacably assemble. And assemble they will. Masses of demonstaters have been gathered for just over a month as stated on [|CNN], "The largely leaderless, vaguely defined movement has already lasted longer than many expected." Protestors highlighted many national issues, but "the overarching theme remained the same: populist anger over an out-of-touch corporate, financial and political elite." -Lily W.