First Amendment Quiz

Incorrect. The First Amendment is most famous for protecting free speech and establishing freedom of religion.

Incorrect. The founding fathers believed that ideas and debate should spread through news. The press is the only career specifically protected by the Constitution.

Correct! In fact, the right to privacy is not listed anywhere specifically in the Constitution (although the Supreme Court has interpreted it as a Constitutional right under other Amendments).

Incorrect. This protection allows citizens to take direct action against the government. The First Amendment also protects your right to peacefully assemble to protest.

Correct! When you think about "speech," this is probably what comes to mind. Written and spoken words are the clearest form of expression, but aren't the only types of "speech" that can be protected under the First Amendment.

Correct! Artistic expression like composing music, choreographing a dance, or painting a picture can also count as speech and can be protected under the First Amendment.

Correct! Actions can also count as "speech" because you are expressing ideas or beliefs through what you do. This is often called "symbolic speech."

Correct! Fashion choices can be another example of symbolic speech. You can use clothing, accessories, hair style, makeup, and more to express your identity or beliefs.

Incorrect. The First Amendment only protects you against government actors. The First Amendment does not protect you against private employers and teachers at private schools.

Correct! The First Amendment only protects you against government actors. Government actors can include teachers, principals, administrators, and staff at public schools.

Incorrect. Although commercial speech is covered by the First Amendment, it only gets limited protection.

Incorrect. Even though we want to protect a person's ability to express their opinion, there are some extreme cases where opinions will not be protected speech.

Correct! Political speech is the most highly protected type of speech under the First Amendment.

Incorrect. Although we want to protect people's ability to criticize someone or something, it is not as highly protected as pure political speech.

Correct! The First Amendment doesn't just apply to adults, it applies to students too! The Supreme Court has said that "students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate." Of course, schools might be able to put some limits on that right, but First Amendment protects students both in and out of school.

Incorrect. The First Amendment protects students both in and out of school!

Correct! True obscenity is never protected under the First Amendment. However, speech that is lewd and vulgar (i.e. uses profanity or sexual innuendo) is given slightly more protection.

Incorrect. Although it is offensive, hate speech is still technically protected by the First Amendment, unless it (1) incites violence or could inspire immediate violence, or (2) is a true threat of violence against another person.

Correct! True threats of violence against another person are not protected by the First Amendment (and it could lead to bigger trouble anyway).

Incorrect. Mere offense isn't enough of a reason to stop someone's speech. Everyone has different standard of what it means for speech to be "offensive," so offensive speech is protected under the First Amendment.

Correct! Defamation--lying about someone enough that it permanently hurts their reputation--is not protected under the First Amendment.

Correct! Remember how commercial speech is given First Amendment protection? Well, believe it or not, false advertisements are not given any protection. Why would the founding fathers want to protect lies so much anyway?

Correct! As decided by the Supreme Court in the case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, schools can censor any student speech that causes a "substantial and material disruption" to the learning environment, or could foreseeably cause one in the future.

Incorrect. Even for student speech, just being offensive isn't enough of a reason to censor speech. It is still protected by the First Amendment.

Correct! Schools can censor student speech about illegal drugs or other illegal behavior. Take a look at your school dress code; you'll probably find that your school has a policy that says the same thing! Schools can also censor "lewd and vulgar" speech (speech that uses profanity or sexual innuendos).

Incorrect. Students have a right to be critical of their teachers without getting in trouble for it. Unless the post was threatening or caused a disruption to the school, it is protected, especially if it was made off-campus and after school hours.

Correct! Threats against other students or the school in general are very serious, and even it was made as a "joke," it's not protected speech.

Incorrect. Even though artistic expression is protected by the First Amendment, schools can prevent students from wearing shirts that support illegal drug use. This would not be protected speech, even if the student was just supporting the artist.

Incorrect. Even though it is worn for political reasons, the shirt only shows a picture of an illegal drug, so the school could still censor it.

Incorrect. Although the chant is a form of political expression, the student is interrupting the learning environment to get his message across. This type of substantial disruption is not speech that is protected in schools.

Correct! This is the best answer. The student is engaging in clearly political speech and as long as the buttons do not become a disruption to the school, her speech will be protected.

Correct! The school can suspend the student due to the fact that the shirt was likely to cause a substantial disruption to the learning environment. Since fights have been breaking out in the past, and the student wore the shirt to make people mad, he knew (and so did the school) that the shirt was going to cause some kind of disruption.

Incorrect. While the Confederate flag has become an often controversial issue, in this case, the student clearly knew that there was a history of violence in the school and that wearing the shirt would provoke other students to fight. That is not protected speech.

Incorrect. Even though the word "boobies" might not be completely G-rated, it doesn't rise to the level of lewdness in this case. Here, the speech is designed to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Incorrect. The word "boobies" is not strong enough to legally count as "obscene."

Correct! Even though we might not think about cancer research as political, the message on the bracelets is advocating for a cause, so the student's speech is protected by the First Amendment.

Incorrect. Even though schools can regulate speech that might cause substantial disruption, the school has to show that the disruption is actually foreseeable. In other words, they have to give an actual explanation, not just worry.