Dalaney Shelton

English 113
Research Paper Draft #1
2-4-15

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or

prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the government for a redress of grievances.

As United States citizens living in the US, free speech is a cornerstone of our
society that we take for granted on a daily basis. We forget that not many
countries have the same right in full.

The US Constitution was written and signed in 1787. However, it didnt go into
affect until it was ratified; this process was completed on June 21, 1788 when
New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify. The Constitution is the
fundamental structure for our government. It puts power into the peoples
hands, sets up the checks and balance system, is the dividing power between
state and federal government, gives the definition of the governments power and
its duties, separates the government into the legislative, executive, and judicial
branches, determines how we elect new representatives, formulates the
ratification and amendment processes of documents, and last but not least it
defines many of our right and freedoms. (Constitution FAQs)

Involved with Freedom of Speech is freedom of the press, hate speech,

censorship, government-regulated speech, defamation, libel, and sedition.
There are many, many law cases that have to do with free speech.
Allen Derschowitz, one of the most famous current lawyers in America, handled
many cases on free speech. In his book Taking the Stand, he talks about many
of his cases that concerned free speech.
One I distinctly remember is the WikiLeaks case. WikiLeaks was a website where
people could anonymously send in information about any topic. One person sent
in confidential government information that endangered national security. The
government sued Julian Assange. He was the one who posted the information
given to him by others. His argument was that he was merely the supplier of the
information; he was merely relaying something that someone gave him. His job
was to vet the material, make sure the names and dates were correct. Unlike
other investigative journalist, Assange did not actively go after the information.
He never paid them as incentive or met them in secret. He just received
anonymous information, made sure it was safe to publish, and then made it
available to the public. But because something he published revealed state
secrets he was being sued.

References
"First Amendment." First Amendment. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_amendment

"Constitution FAQs." National Constitution Center Constitutioncenter.org. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.

http://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educationalresources/constitution-faqs/