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Lenny
Bruce, was tried for giving an obscene performance in a Greenwich
Village nightclub and sentenced to 4 months in jail.
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First
Amendment Rights (Speech, Press, Assembly, Religion) Highlights
of the Supreme Courts 2002-2003 Term
The
First Amendment In the United States, freedom of expression,
artistic and otherwise, is governed by the First Amendment to the
US Constitution:
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.
Powerful
forces have been using the courts to suppress criticism since 1802,
when a justice of the peace in Shaftsbury, VT, sued 5 citizens who
spoke out against his reappointment, seeking $5,000 for having been
called a quarreling, fighting, and sabbath breaking member of society.
But it wasnt until the past 2 decades that suits, of the First
Amendments free speech protections, have become common enough to
earn their own acronym--Strategic
Lawsuit Against Public Participation--the SLAPP.
Media
Access Project MAP -- Public's First Amendment right to be heard
on the electronic media.
Speed
Limit -- A bill banning Internet sites that publish or even
link to drug-making information looks set to sail through Congress
to the dismay of free-speech advocates.
Student
Press Law Center - Dedicated to providing legal help and information
to the student media and journalism educators.
EPIC
is a public interest research center to focus public attention on
emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First
Amendment, and constitutional values.
PLEASE
CONTRIBUTE TODAY!
Kari & Associates
PO Box 7126
Olympia, WA 98507
Copyright Kari Sable Burns 1994-2006
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American
Justice:Larry Flynt Story It
is the lead article in the Bill of Rights, a cornerstone of
the freedoms that define America. But the right to free speech
has been challenged and stretched like never before in the 20th
century, and the man at the center of many of the most important
1st amendment battles is Larry Flynt. AMERICAN JUSTICE. chronicles
the legal battles of the outspoken, unrepentant publisher of
Hustler through interviews with lawyers on both sides of the
cases, legal experts and Flynt's opponents and supporters. Relive
the landmark Jerry Falwell case that Flynt pursued all the way
to the Supreme Court, establishing his role as a defender of
free speech. And learn the details of some of the many legal
challenges he has faced in his 25 years as publisher of one
of themost notorious magazines in the world. It's a fascinating
look at the controversial man and convoluted cases that, in
many ways, have come to symbolize the battle over free speech
in modern America.
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