The 1st Amendment Freedom of speech is probably the most controversial amendment that there is within the Bill of Rights. “The first amendment of is freedom of religion, press, and expression, which states that 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 (Mount, S. 2010).” The first amendment gives the citizens of the U.S. the right to communicate one’s opinions and ideas with fear of government retaliation or censorship. The right to freedom of expression is recognized as a basic human right under article 19 of …show more content…
The amendment states “The emueration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people (Justia, 1970).” “The ninth amendment bars any denial of unenemurated rights is that denial is based on the enumeration of certain rights that are within the US Constitution, however the ninth amendment does not bar denial of unenumerated rights if the denial is based on the ueumeration of certain powers within the Constitution. The enumeration of powers that the courts have pointed, to in order to determine the extent of the unenumerated rights that are mentioned with the ninth amendment (Justia, 1970).” Some of the consequences of the ninth amendment are people would have to sneak around to get contraceptive devices, and make sure they were not seen for fear of punishment by the government. Another consequence was the fact that women were denied their most basic human right of protection for the use of contraceptives to avoid unwanted …show more content…
Connecticut, which challenged the state of Connecticut’s law that prohibited use of “any drug, medical article, or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception (Legal Dictionary, 2012).” This case began with Estelle Griswold, who was Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, and Dr. Charles Buxton, opened a birth control clinic in New Haven, Connecticut. The pair were arrested, tried, and convicted of offering services that prevented contraception, and fined. Estelle Griswold appealed the case, which had been upheld in both the appellate court and the Supreme Court of Connecticut. The case then went on to the US Supreme Court, “ where Griswold argued that the state law against the use of contraceptives violated the Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which provides that “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges of immunities of citizens of the US; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law… nor deny any person the equal protection of the laws ((Legal Dictionary, 2012).” “The Supreme Court of the United States then, ruled that the Connecticut law was unconstitutional, and violated the “right to martial privacy”, in a 7-2 decision, which pointed out that although the Bill of Rights does not specifically mention “privacy,” it is inherent and implied
In America the Amendment 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives the American people the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Most notably Amendment 1 is known for and most often cited as giving the Freedom of Speech. Even before this amendment was ratified people in the U.S. were protesting, as in the Boston Tea Party. Protesting has been a way to effect change in America. A question to ask is this: is there a right way or wrong way to protest.
On June 7th 1965, married couples in the State of Connecticut received the right to acquire and benefit from contraceptive devises. In a majority decision by the United States Supreme Court, seven out of the nine judges believed that sections 53-32 and 54-196 of the General Statues of Connecticut , violated the right of privacy guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The case set precedence by establishing marital (and later constitutional) privacy, and had notable influence on three later controversial ruling=s in Roe v. Wade (1973), Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and Planned Parenthood of S.E. Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) . The issue at hand was, and is still, one that still causes debate, wether a state has the authority to restrict the use and sale of contraceptives. Though it is not contraceptives, anymore, that is at the heart of the abortion debate, this ruling was the first step to the expectation of constitutional privacy.
Although this amendment gave people the right to express their opinions, it still rests in one’s own hands as to how far they will go to exercise that right of freedom of speech. According to Roger Rosenblatt “since freedom is the way people's minds were made to be”, freedom of speech is important to speak one's mind in a way that expresses his/her opinion, even if this opinion does not seem to convince others. In my opinion, without freedom of speech, the United States would have failed to be such a powerful country as it is today. . Although your opinions might disagree with others, you still have the right to voice them. For example, Roger Rosenblatt indicated that when a basketball player for the Denver Nuggets, was suspended from the league because of his religious conventions that stopped him from playing in the league.
One key to the first amendment of the United states constitution is the right to free speech. Freedom of speech is what separates America than other countries around the world that forbid freedom of speech rights. Freedom of speech has been in our constitution since the year 1791. When James Madison “the father of the constitution” wrote the bill of rights he saw potential and that it would make the country more freedom filled than other countries. The land of the free is what the United States is nicknamed and it 's because of our rights to express ourselves as freely as we desire.
The first amendment is the cornerstone of our American society founded years ago by our forefathers. Without the first amendment many ideas, beliefs, and groups could not exist today. The first amendment guaranteed the people of the United States the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition. Although the first amendment guarantees us, Americans the freedom of speech, we cannot use it to cause others harm. This amendment has helped shaped Americans into what we are today, because of our right to assemble, speak freely, and worship as we please.
Without the right to speak freely one would not be able to debt, nor would one be able to receive full coverage on world issues. There would be no interesting newspapers, no free religion and no free thoughts. This amendment seems so simple but, the boundaries of which issues and incidents are covered are so complex and varied. What is legal and illegal?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” –U.S. Constitutional Amendments
are expected to tell the truth, even if that truth was to put you in
What does freedom really mean? Many people today are aware that they have a right to freedom, but do not know what that really means. Religion, speech, press, assembly and petition are the five freedoms that the First Amendment specifically speaks about. Let’s take a look at the definition of each of the five freedoms, what the government says about our freedom, how it is acted out and portrayed in America, and a few case studies involving the different aspects of the First Amendment.
No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.
Abortion is a topic that many don’t want to discuss. It’s a very personal decision that many women have to make each day, but in certain states, getting an abortion was becoming an even more difficult process. Not only did women have to decide to get an abortion that alone is a difficult choice, they now had to wait 24 hours, minors had to get consent, and/or inform the father of the child. But after all of this process, what if a woman couldn’t receive all of this? Would she be denied her right to get an abortion? The Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood of PA v. Casey, wasn’t known for what it did, but mainly for what it did not do, which was not overruling Roe v. Wade, but reaffirming a woman’s right to an abortion; it questioned a state’s right to impose or place an “undue burden” on women.
Health care and what people are legally allowed to do with their bodies have created controversy galore throughout history. A particular point of debate is the topic of birth control and the government. A dangerous couple, it raises the question of who should have control over contraceptive laws and what controls involving them should be put in place? Currently, under the Obama Administration, the Affordable Care Act and “Obamacare” have been created. One of the sections of this new plan creates a mandate which requires private businesses to provide insurance that covers birth control costs. The government should not be able to force businesses, and therefore the American people, to pay for birth control via health insurance because it violates the First Amendment and would create a financial burden for an already struggling country.
The history of how abortion became legal was in the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade case in 1973. Before that the practice of abortion was illegal unless a women’s health was in danger and the doctor allowed an option of abortion to end her pregnancy. The doctor would then go ahead with the procedure without the law being violated. Jane Roe who was an unmarried woman from Texas initiated a federal action against the county’s district Attorney. She argued that her right to an abortion violated the provisions of the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. She wanted to end her pregnancy with a professional and licensed practitioner under a safe environment. She was not able to get a legal abortion in Texas because her life was not in any danger from the pregnancy. The Supreme Court ruled in her favor and therefore legalized abortion, because “an individual’s right to privacy included a woman’s right to abort her fetus, if she desired or it was deemed medically necessary” (). Women were now allowed to have an abortion within the first six months of her pregnancy without any reason. The court also stated that “the right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendments’ reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. The detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying her choice altogether is apparent” (). The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment banned a state from denying an abortion since the amendment states “no state shall make of en...
The First Amendment of the Constitution is the most important and debatable of them all. The First Amendment states; “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, of 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.”
Abortion has been a complex social issue in the United States ever since restrictive abortion laws began to appear in the 1820s. By 1965, abortions had been outlawed in the U.S., although they continued illegally; about one million abortions per year were estimated to have occurred in the 1960s. (Krannich 366) Ultimately, in the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, it was ruled that women had the right to privacy and could make an individual choice on whether or not to have an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. (Yishai 213)