Assignment - 4



Assignment - 4

Amendments from the Bill of rights of the US Constitution

Ammendment 1: Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly

Purpose of the Amendment

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.

Effects of the Amendment

This amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and the press, and protects the right of assembly. The First Amendment was written because at America's inception, citizens demanded a guarantee of their basic freedoms(Brant, 2008).

Without the First Amendment, religious minorities could be persecuted, the government might well establish a national religion, protesters could be silenced, the press could not criticize government, and citizens could not mobilize for social change (Hoffman, 2009).

Importance of this Amendment

The First Amendment ensures that “if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein,” as Justice Robert Jackson wrote in the 1943 case West Virginia v. Barnette. (Hoffman, 2009)

Impact of this Amendment

Most people believe in the right to free speech, but debate whether it should cover flag-burning, hard-core rap and heavy-metal lyrics, tobacco advertising, hate speech, pornography, nude dancing, solicitation and various forms of symbolic speech. Many would agree to limiting some forms of free expression, as seen in the First Amendment Center's State of the First Amendment survey reports.

Amendment II: Right to bear arms

Purpose of the Amendment

This amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Effects of the Amendment

The meaning of the Second Amendment depends upon who you talk to. The National Rifle Association, which has the Second Amendment (minus the militia clause) engraved on its headquarters building in Washington, insists that the Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to possess and carry a wide variety of firearms. (Kopel, 2008).

Importance of this Amendment

In 2008, the U. S. Supreme Court, in District of Columbia vs. Heller, struck down a Washington, D.C. ban on individuals having handguns in their homes. Writing for a 5 to 4 majority, Justice Scalia found the right to bear arms to be an individual right consistent with the overriding purpose of the 2nd Amendment, to maintain strong state militias. Scalia wrote that it was essential that the operative clause be consistent with the prefatory clause, but that the prefatory clause did not limit the operative clause.

Impact of this Amendment

Rarely is the Second Amendment discussed in Constitutional Law textbooks, and other than for a slew of Internet resources (see below), many people simply ignore it or shy away from the intense ideological debates. In this lecture, we cover both Second Amendment jurisprudence and Gun Control controversies (Kopel, ...