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Elonis V. US Supreme Court Case Study

618 Words3 Pages

As seen in the CNN article (regarding Elonis v. U.S.), the Supreme Court needs information regarding previous court cases in order to make a determination in the Elonis case. They summon an Amicus Curiae brief (“friend of the court” brief) asking you to provide information about the First Amendment. Specifically they ask, “What is the current precedent concerning freedom of speech?”
Begin your response here: The first amendment states “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.” These were the principles the founding fathers believed we had a right to however the government and some states believe otherwise, that the constitution is too vague and outdated so they are trying to create new laws to make it more specific to our world we live in now. The standard regarding freedom of speech is that we all have it and we can say whatever we want without any consequences conversely, there has been some court cases where they say otherwise because of many different …show more content…

Frederick case where a student got punished just for holding up a sign saying “bong hits for jesus” in a school event. This would of have been perfectly fine if he was outside of school but since he was at school the court ruled in favor of Morse because the students do have freedom of speech but not to a point where they are promoting drug use in a school is allowed. Some say that the ruling was not fair because it violates the first amendment but another case had already set a precedent where students in school only have limited freedom of speech instead of the belief ultimate freedom of speech where you can say whatever you want with no

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