Overview of the First Amendment and Free Speech

Shortly after the United States Constitution was drafted in 1787 and adopted by nine of the thirteen states in 1788. However, the leaders of some states still had questions about the extent to which the Constitution protected (or did not protect) personal liberties. One of those leaders, James Madison, spearheaded an effort to amend the Constitution to further protect citizens from government power and punishment. Madison and other leaders introduced the Bill of Rights during the first Congress. Ratified in 1791, that bill included the first ten amendments which broadened personal liberties and protections. For the purposes of this class, we will focus on the First Amendment which provided bedrock protections for free speech and expression. Before exploring challenges and exceptions to those protections, it is important to understand what types of speech the First Amendment covers. Listen to “The Right to Free Speech” episode from the podcast Throughline.

 

These protections have faced a multitude of challenges over the past two hundred years from local, state, and federal laws along with restrictions on students’ expression implemented by schools and universities. The following sections cover some of those restrictions, and legal tests developed to examine the constitutionality of free speech limitations.