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U.S. Constitution: First Amendment

First Amendment - Religion and Expression

Amendment Text | Annotations

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.

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Annotations

• Religion
• An Overview
  • Scholarly Commentary
  • Court Tests Applied to Legislation Affecting Religion
  • Government Neutrality in Religious Disputes
• Establishment of Religion
  • Financial Assistance to Church-Related Institutions
  • Governmental Encouragement of Religion in Public Schools: Released Time
  • Governmental Encouragement of Religion in Public Schools: Prayers and Bible Reading
  • Governmental Encouragement of Religion in Public Schools: Curriculum Restriction
  • Access of Religious Groups to Public Property
  • Tax Exemptions of Religious Property
  • Exemption of Religious Organizations from Generally Applicable Laws
  • Sunday Closing Laws
  • Conscientious Objection
  • Regulation of Religious Solicitation
  • Religion in Governmental Observances
  • Religious Displays on Government Property
  • Miscellaneous
• Free Exercise of Religion
  • The Belief-Conduct Distinction
  • The Mormon Cases
  • The Jehovah's Witnesses Cases
  • Free Exercise Exemption from General Governmental Requirements
  • Religious Test Oaths
  • Religious Disqualification
• Freedom of Expression--Speech and Press
• Adoption and Common Law Background
• Freedom of Expression: The Philosophical Basis
• Freedom of Expression: Is There a Difference Between Speech and Press
• The Doctrine of Prior Restraint
  • Injunctions and the Press in Fair Trial Cases
  • Obscenity and Prior Restraint
• Subsequent Punishment: Clear and Present Danger and Other Tests
  • Clear and Present Danger
  • The Adoption of Clear and Present Danger
  • Contempt of Court and Clear and Present Danger
  • Clear and Present Danger Revised: Dennis
  • Balancing
  • The ''Absolutist'' View of the First Amendment, with a Note on ''Preferred Position''
  • Of Other Tests and Standards: Vagueness, Overbreadth, Least Restrictive Means, and Others
  • Is There a Present Test?
• Freedom of Belief
  • Flag Salute Cases
  • Imposition of Consequences for Holding Certain Beliefs
• Right of Association
  • Political Association
  • Conflict Between Organization and Members
• Maintenance of National Security and the First Amendment
  • Punishment of Advocacy
  • Compelled Registration of Communist Party
  • Punishment for Membership in an Organization Which Engages in Proscribed Advocacy
  • Disabilities Attaching to Membership in Proscribed Organizations
  • Employment Restrictions and Loyalty Oaths
  • Legislative Investigations and the First Amendment
  • Interference With War Effort
  • Suppression of Communist Propaganda in the Mails
  • Exclusion of Certain Aliens as a First Amendment Problem
• Particular Government Regulations Which Restrict Expression
  • Government as Employer: Political and Other Outside Activities
  • Government as Employer: Free Expression Generally
  • Government as Educator
  • Government as Regulator of the Electoral Process: Elections
  • Government as Regulator of the Electoral Process: Lobbying
  • Government as Regulator of Labor Relations
  • Government as Investigator: Journalist's Privilege
  • Government and the Conduct of Trials
  • Government as Administrator of Prisons
  • Government and Power of the Purse
• Governmental Regulation of Communications Industries
  • Commercial Speech
  • Taxation
  • Labor Relations
  • Antitrust Laws
  • Radio and Television
  • Governmentally Compelled Right of Reply to Newspapers
  • Regulation of Cable Television
• Government Restraint of Content of Expression
  • Seditious Speech and Seditious Libel
  • Fighting Words and Other Threats to the Peace
  • Group Libel, Hate Speech
  • Defamation
  • Invasion of Privacy
  • Emotional Distress Tort Actions
  • ''Right of Publicity'' Tort Actions
  • Publication of Legally Confidential Information
  • Obscenity
  • Child Pornography
  • Nonobscene But Sexually Explicit and Indecent Expression
• Speech Plus--The Constitutional Law of Leafleting, Picketing, and Demonstrating
  • The Public Forum
  • Quasi-Public Places
  • Picketing and Boycotts by Labor Unions
  • Public Issue Picketing and Parading
  • Leafleting, Handbilling, and the Like
  • Sound Trucks, Noise
  • Door-to-Door Solicitation
  • The Problem of ''Symbolic Speech''
• Rights of Assembly and Petition
• Background and Development
  • The Cruikshank Case
  • The Hague Case