James Keegstra Case Analysis

Justice Abe Fortas is arguing the majority opinion which says that speech should not be prohibited in an educational setting. The Justice says, “Undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right of expression,” (4). This means that just because you think something will cause a disturbance and will be bad, that does not give one the right to ban freedom of expression. One must have evidence that a disturbance has been make. Fear cannot take away freedom. In one of the court cases mentioned, it says, “the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools,” (13). This is saying that our constitutional freedoms are most valuable in American school communities. The freedom of expression is one of the reasons that makes America a superior country. “Our nation’s future depends upon leaders who gained exposure to a wide variety of

Why is the first amendment the most important, people may ask? It is important because

The first amendment guarantees five basic freedoms to the American citizens. These freedoms are of speech, press, petition, assembly and religion. As all the amendments, the first amendment is intended for use in situations with the government. The first amendment was written by James Madison and was sent to the states to be ratified on September 25, 1789 along with the twelve proposals for the bill of rights.. Then it was officially adopted on December 15, 1791.

Flames, teargas, riots, city blocks destroyed, in consequence to a statement. In today 's modern society, rude acts of communication known as hate speech, have become a controversial topic in America. Although hate speech is awful, it should be protected by the first amendment. Hate speech should be permitted because omitting such phrases would set a precedent for censorship and repress the minority. Such censorship would lead to a totalitarian rule by the majority . While hate speech should be better understood, bigoted acts should not be included in hate speech or harmful subjective phrases.

Toobin’s main point in the book is the fight between the conservatives and the liberals. This chapter fits because it shows that all of the president's wanted to elect republican conservatives to fit the jobs.

Manufacturing Guilt Wrongful Convictions in Canada, Second Edition, is relevant to the course I am taking Social Inequity and Justice because, like my course this book discusses and examines sociological approaches to social inequity in regard to race and ethnicity and how it effects these groups and their lives. Manufacturing Guilt Wrongful Convictions in Canada, Second Edition is about innocent people that spend many years behind bars, wrongfully committed for crimes they did not commit. When someone is wrongfully convicted, they are being punished for an offence they did not commit and to make matters worse the actual perpetrator of the crime goes free. Many people that do get exonerated their applications take years in the federal review

Hate speech—words or symbols targeted at a particular group or person that attack or intimidate them based upon sex, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or gender—has recently become extremely controversial, especially in regards to college campuses. Although merely visual or verbal behaviors, hate speech can indirectly and directly cause physical and psychological harms. Philosophers Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic delve into the negative impact of hate speech in their essay “Words That Wound”, detailing exactly how supposed expressions of freedom of speech can detrimentally impact its victims. Such dire consequences thus call for targeted and threating speech to be banned in certain spaces in order to sustain a safe environment for the majority of people.

James Keegstra was a high school teacher in Alberta, who lost his teaching license in 1984. Keegstra taught his students that the Holocaust was made up by the Jews to receive sympathy from society. Therefore, Keegstra was accused of being discriminatory towards the Jewish community.

The history of the United States of America has often been punctuated by moments of triumph, and also by grievous lapses in moral and ethical judgements. For years, students have learned about the entirety of our country’s history in school. However, a school board in Colorado recently attempted to prevent this from happening. Their decision to alter the American history curriculum in order to promote patriotic values angered many students, who then protested this decision. Leonard Pitts, a journalist for the Miami Herald, openly criticized the school board’s move. In his article “Students fight assault on history”, Pitts appeals to the audience’s emotions in order to effectively decry the censoring of history in classrooms.

Canada is country that is known for its distinctive features that has helped construct Canadian identity. The nation is acknowledged for its national languages and its diverse communities. However, this could not have been done without the help of past Canadian prime minister’s. A prime minister’s actions are the reflection of the country and its future identity. The day of April 20, 1968 marked the beginning of the change in Canadian history. Pierre Elliott Trudeau was elected as the 15th Prime Minister of Canada and soon became the most revolutionary individual to impact Canadian identity. As a part of the Liberal Party, Trudeau built ideas that were popular among Canadians. He constructed Canada through his vision of a unified, bilingual,

In Turner v. Safley (1987), the Supreme Court ruled in favor of restricting prisoners Constitutional rights. According to the ruling, the restriction of rights is Constitution if “reasonably related to legitimate penological [i.e. safety] interests.” Jeffs communicates sermons and regulations from prison, and limiting the community between Jeffs and the hierarchy of Short Creek attempts to severe ties between Jeffs and the FLDS. Satinder Singh, an ACLU attorney, said “…prisoners can limit communication, including mail and visits….However, the prison can’t suppress Jeffs free speech rights just because it doesn’t like what he has to say (Singh).” While Jeffs ideologies continue to dictate the infrastructure of Short Creek, minimizing communication enhances the chances of stopping the theocratic rule in Short Creek.

Hate is everywhere! Everywhere you turn there will always be people who hate you, your ideas, or everything. As a High School student, hate surrounds me in digital forms and physical forms. I see bullies in real life and homophobic people on my Twitter Timeline. They both share one thing in common: the first amendment. The ability to speak freely is written in the bill of rights and has been preserved for decades, but when free speech turns into hate speech it brings up the widely deliberated issue about banning hate speech.

Buchhandler-Raphael, Michal. "Overcriminalizing Speech." Cardozo Law Review 36.5 (2015): 1667-1737. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

On the sidewalks of Rochester in the year 1942, Walter Chaplinsky was arrested for repeating 'You are a God damned racketeer' and 'a damned Fascist’ to a police officer. Chaplinsky’s statements violated a New Hampshire law prohibiting offensive, derisive, or annoying words or sounds said unto an individual or party in a public place. He appealed the decision of the District Court, and when it came to the Supreme Court, they came to a profound decision. Supreme Court Justice Murphy said there are certain words that could reasonably result in a fight or a breach of peace when uttered. These “fighting words” are not protected under the first Amendment. Fighting words shouldn’t be a constitutional issue because people are allowed to speak, even is it will cause a flare in tempers.

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), freedom of speech falls under the Article 19 which is the freedom of opinion and expression. It protects one’s freedom ‘to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers’ (The United Nations, 1948). Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) adds that the freedom of expression could be ‘either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice’.