First Amendment Rights and Responsibilities
LAW 680 Section 61
David F. Forte
Welcome to the First Amendment
Note the texts and the first week's assignment below. The materials should be available early next week.
For the first class, please prepare a one page thought reflection to be turned on after class: Is freedom of speech an important value for you? For others? What do you mean by "speech?"
Fall 2019
Monday & Wednesday, 1:00 to 2:15 p.m. LB66
Texts:
Sullivan & Gunther, Constitutional Law, 19th edition (do NOT buy the 20th edition)
Sullivan & Gunther, Constitutional Law, 2018 supplement (I should be able to provide these for you)
Forte, Original Sources. Available at support services
First Session
The Value of Free Speech
Introduction
Sullivan & Gunther, Constitutional Law, pages 932-940
OR Sullivan & Gunther, First Amendment Law, pages 1-9
John Milton, Areopgitica (1644)
Blackstone, Liberty of the Press (1765-1769)
An Appeal to the Inhabitants of Quebec (1764)
Free Speech and Free Press Clauses (1789)
Forte, Original Sources, pages 1-19
Second Session
Clear and Present Danger (1): Criminal Speech
Review your knowledge of criminal law: general and specific intent crimes, conspiracy, attempt, solicitation.
Schenck v. United States
Frohwerk v. United States
Debs v. United States
Abrams v. United States
Sullivan & Gunther, Constitutional Law, pages 946-954
OR Sullivan & Gunther, First Amendment Law, pages 16-24
Reference:
D. Forte, Righting a Wrong: Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, and the Espionage Act Prosecutions, 68 Case Western. L. Rev. 1097 (2018) on reserve.
Clear and Present Danger (2): Incitement, Seditious Libel
Review your knowledge of the incorporation doctrine from Constitutional Law
Masses Publishing v. Patten
Gitlow v. New York
Whitney v. California
Sullivan & Gunther, Constitutional Law, pages 957-978
OR Sullivan & Gunther, First Amendment Law, pages 26-40
Reference:
The Trial of John Peter Zenger,
Original Sources, pages 35-42