Exam 2: The First Amendment

The Supreme Court ruled that Westboro Baptist Church protesters engaged in fighting words when they held up signs near military funerals proclaiming, "God hates fags."

A public official's social media page may be a __________ public forum if used to conduct official business and/or to interact with citizens about public affairs.

The independent, off-campus student newspaper with website is a traditional public forum.

The City of Midville adopts a law making it illegal for "a large number" to picket at one time. A court likely will find the law ________________.

It is a crime, the Supreme Court has ruled, to falsely claim to have won a military medal.

In Brandenburg v. Ohio, the Supreme Court ruled that threatening to get "revengence" at some distant time constitutes a clear and present danger.

Content moderation: What is the Facebook Oversight Board?

Public officials may block users from their social media pages on the basis of viewpoint, even if the pages are used for official purposes, because a social media accounts are never considered public forums.

The Supreme Court ruled California could ban the sale of violent video games to minors because the state had a compelling interest in preventing antisocial conduct.

A federal appellate court in California ruled that web pages depicting abortion doctors in "Wanted Posters" constitute _________________.

A state university speaker's platform, established in 2010, is _________ public forum.

Bob Editor, editor of the Palisades High School newspaper, says on the paper's website that a school math teacher named Mr. Whiz is a "loser" who ought to be "got rid of in any way possible." Principal Book suspends Editor from school for two days for his "offensive" posting which the principal characterizes as a "true threat." The website is run by the school as part of a "New Media Class" taught by Lawrence Lenient, an English teacher. Principal Book calls his policy a reasonable regulation of a nonpublic forum. But the ACLU claims that Principal Book violated Editor's First Amendment rights by censoring political speech on a public forum. Citing Supreme Court cases, explain whether the online newspaper is (l) a public forum and whether Principal Book can punish Editor for (2) "offensive" speech that Book says is a (3) "true threat."

The framers of the Constitution intended the First Amendment to protect citizens from interference with their freedom of expression by state and local governments as well as by the federal government.

The European Union may prohibit hateful speech that is protected in the United States.

In 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that then-President Trump's practice of blocking critics from his Twitter account was unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

Which of the following is NOT an unconstitutional content-based regulation?

A county ordinance prohibits a newspaper, its website and its blogs from publishing stories favoring legalization of marijuana, stories the ordinance says "might encourage young people to engage in harmful activity." When a newspaper or website challenges the law as a violation of the First Amendment, a court will subject the ordinance to:

Which of the following is generally true about the regulation of user content on social media platforms?

The government can license the following media operators because they operate on a limited spectrum.

The Supreme Court disfavors content regulations, yet the First Amendment protects political speech more than it protects advertising.