Deck 5: The First Amendment: Basic Freedoms

Question 1

The Lemon test, regarding separation of church and state, required that any law challenged under the Establishment Clause must meet all of the following criteria, except:

A) have a primary secular purpose.
B) have a principle effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion.
C) have a principle effect that either advances or inhibits religion.
D) not generate excessive entanglement between government and religion.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following is a permissible restriction on speech?

A) defamation
B) political rhetoric
C) criticism of the government
D) depictions of animal cruelty

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The Smith Act (1940):

A) banned nude dancing.
B) made it unlawful to advocate overthrowing the government by force.
C) established national standards for obscenity.
D) established the "clear and probable danger" test.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Passed by Congress in 1917, the Espionage Act:

A) empowered the president to expel "dangerous aliens."
B) made it illegal to interfere with recruiting or drafting soldiers, or to commit any act that adversely affected military morale.
C) made it illegal to write or speak "with the intent to defame" the government.
D) made it illegal to provide material support to terrorist organizations.

Question 5

The Establishment Clause and the separation of church and state were made applicable to the states in which landmark case?

A) Roe v. Wade
B) Everson v. Board of Education
C) City of Boerne v. Flores
D) Griffin v. Coughlin

Question 6

Under the First Amendment, there is an absolute freedom to:

A) speak.
B) act.
C) protest.
D) believe.

Question 7

As_______________  , law enforcement officers have their speech protected by the First Amendment only if it is a matter of public concern or unrelated to employment.

A) officers of the court
B) members of the Executive branch
C) public employees
D) private citizens

Question 8

Religious freedom includes all of the following, except:

A) the freedom to worship.
B) the freedom to print instructional material.
C) the freedom to train teachers.
D) prayer conducted in public schools.

Question 9

"Whether the gravity of the evil, discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger" is called the:

A) clear and probable danger test.
B) clear and present danger test.
C) imminent lawless action test.
D) imminent probable danger test.

Question 10

In order for speech to be considered obscene, and thus not protected by the First Amendment, it must be all of the following, except:

A) arouse erotic sexual interest.
B) appeal to the prurient interest in sex, taken as a whole.
C) portray sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.
D) not have a serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value, taken as a whole.

Question 11

Which of the following is not part of the three-part test in determining "imminent lawless action"?

A) The speaker subjectively intended incitement.
B) In context, the words used were likely to produce imminent, lawless action.
C) The words used by the speaker objectively encouraged and urged incitement.
D) The words used by the speaker caused excitement.

Question 12

Freedom of religion is commonly discussed in terms of two clauses: the Establishment Clause and the:

A) Protection Clause.
B) Freedom Clause.
C) Free Exercise Clause.
D) Founding Institution Clause.

Question 13

Which of the following best describes the current stance on the law regarding the recording of officers in the line of duty?

A) It is protected by the First Amendment rights.
B) It violates the Due Process Clause, which provides for protection of officers in the line of duty.
C) It has been found unconstitutional in a number of Supreme Court cases, beginning in the late 1990s.
D) It is allowed as a protection from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

Question 14

Freedom of the press was made binding on the states through the Fourteenth Amendment in Near v. Minnesota (1931), in which the Supreme Court ruled that:

A) no newspaper could be banned because of its contents, regardless how scandalous.
B) obscenity is not a constitutionally protected form of speech.
C) government may halt publication of books that endanger national security.
D) the press has no constitutional right to disregard promises of confidentiality.

Question 15

Judicial activism is:

A) unconstitutional.
B) the interpretation of the Constitution and its amendments by judges.
C) a violation of due process.
D) the process of appointing judges to the Supreme Court.

Question 16

Protected forms of speech include all of the following, except:

A) burning the American flag.
B) protesting abortion clinics.
C) advocating the violent overthrow of the government.
D) swearing at a law enforcement officer.

Question 17

What was the significance of the case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)?

A) The Supreme Court held that states could not require children to pledge allegiance to the United States each school day.
B) The Supreme Court held that the unlicensed soliciting of funds could be used for religious or charitable contributions.
C) The Supreme Court held that a state could not punish someone for blacking out the part of a car's license plate that sets forth the state's motto.
D) The Supreme Court held that personal religious beliefs do not excuse a person from complying with an otherwise valid law.

Question 18

The Supreme Court struck down a law banning computer-generated or "virtual" child pornography in:

A) Prewitt v. State of Arizona ex rel. Eyman (1969).
B) Procunier v. Martinez (1974).
C) City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994).
D) Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997).

Question 19

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from making any laws that restrict freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or:

A) freedom of the press.
B) the right to bear arms.
C) unnecessary cruel and unusual punishment.
D) the right to an attorney.

Question 20

The Supreme Court ruled that cities may not prohibit yard signs in the case of:

A) Prewitt v. State of Arizona ex rel. Eyman (1969).
B) Procunier v. Martinez (1974).
C) City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994).
D) Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997).

Question 21

Freedom of religion is commonly discussed in terms of two clauses: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.

Question 22

The First Amendment right to free speech was the first guarantee to be made applicable to the states through incorporation in Gitlow v. New York (1925).

Question 23

The case of Holt v. Hobbs (2015) involved the growth of a beard by an Arkansas prison inmate. What standard did the Court use to reach their decision?

A) the reasonableness standard
B) the Establishment Clause
C) the Free Exercise Clause
D) least restrictive means

Question 24

Historically, freedom of the press has been attached to the general concept of:

A) sexism.
B) vulgarity.
C) censorship.
D) clear and present danger.

Question 25

The Equal Access law of 1984 banned students from holding religious meetings in public high schools outside class hours.

Question 26

The first specific test of how far government can limit or punish speech occurred with the passage of the Espionage Act (1917) by Congress during World War I.

Question 27

Freedom of speech is closely linked to freedom of the press, because this freedom includes both the right to speak and the right to be heard.

Question 28

What was the primary focus of the Supreme Court case of Duryea v. Guarnieri (2011)?

A) freedom of the press
B) freedom to practice religion
C) freedom to petition
D) freedom to assemble

Question 29

Prisoners' rights based on the First Amendment involve all of the following, except:

A) exercise privileges.
B) censorship of mail.
C) religion.
D) visitation rights.

Question 30

A federal court ruled that Black Muslims must be recognized as a religion, and that members must be permitted to worship in accordance with their faith, in which high-profile case?

A) Fulwood v. Clemmer
B) Cruz v. Beto
C) O'Lone v. The Estate of Shabazz
D) Dorchester v. Sing Sing Prison

Question 31

In regard to "rational basis" in cases involving prisoner rights, the burden of proof is on the:

A) challenging party.
B) state.
C) prison.
D) prosecution.

Question 32

Several rights (such as the freedom to assemble) are absolute, which means the government cannot simply regulate new laws whenever they believe social interests outweigh the current laws.

Question 33

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was enacted to restore the strict scrutiny test to laws that "substantially burden" a person's exercise of religion.

Question 34

Although there is no specific reference anywhere in the Bill of Rights, the freedom to associate is generally said to fall under which amendment?

A) the First Amendment
B) the Second Amendment
C) the Fourth Amendment
D) the Sixth Amendment

Question 35

As of 1997, burning the flag is no longer a form of protected symbolic speech.

Question 36

Symbolic acts are included within the protection of the First Amendment; however, the government may regulate or punish symbolic speech.

Question 37

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from making any laws that restrict freedom of religion.

Question 38

The belief that Supreme Court judges should not be allowed to interpret the U.S. Constitution is known by a term called judicial activism.

Question 39

In regard to religion, the Court has made it clear that one cannot regulate conduct, but belief can be easily regulated.

Question 40

The Supreme Court upheld prison regulations that are "reasonably related to legitimate penological interests" using the:

A) clear and present danger test.
B) rational basis test.
C) strict scrutiny test.
D) clear and probable danger test.

Question 41

In regard to prisoner rights, rational basis means simply that a law or regulation must bear some relationship to a legitimate government interest.

Question 42

Although it's unlawful to shout "fire" in a crowded theater, some messages that may incite panic are actually protected speech.

Question 43

The test of whether words are so potentially dangerous as to not be protected by the First Amendment must pass the _________________________ test.

Question 44

Freedom of speech is subject to the legal standard of_______________  compelling government interest that justifies the law impacting it.

Question 45

The Supreme Court has held that the right to freedom of association, guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, does not include the right of a commercial association to deny women admission because of gender.

Question 46

The Supreme Court defines ______________________ as those "personally abusive epithets which, when addressed to the ordinary citizen, are, as a matter of common knowledge, inherently likely to provoke violent reaction."

Question 47

A form of speech that expresses an idea or emotion without the use of words is known as______________________________.

Question 48

One of the first attempts to regulate the press came in 1971, when the U.S. government attempted to halt publication of _______________ on the grounds that it could endanger national security.

Question 49

___________________ refers to the restriction on publishing certain materials prior to a communication occurring.

Question 50

Citizens have the First Amendment right to record an officer performing official duties in public.

Question 51

Historically, freedom of the press has been attached to the general concept of______________________________.

Question 52

Balancing society's need for law and order and for effective law enforcement against the_______________of individuals is known as the balancing test.

Question 53

The free exercise of religion involves both the freedom to believe and the freedom to_______________ .

Question 54

The Supreme Court has ruled that Americans do not have a free speech right to pass out anonymous political pamphlets, and all political material must depict the name or agency putting forth the information.

Question 55

In determining when speech should not be protected, the courts replaced the clear and present danger test with the______________________________test.

Question 56

Lynch v. Donnelly dealt with issues involving the______________________________Clause of the United States Constitution.

Question 57

No rights are absolute, so government can regulate them when______________________________outweigh the rights of the individual.

Question 58

In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Court upheld the conviction of a socialist indicted under the ____________ on the grounds that freedom of speech is not absolute.

Question 59

Verbal or written methods of communication (such as delivering a speech or authoring a book) are protected forms of speech known as ________________.

Question 60

In upholding the free speech right of anonymous pamphleteering, the Supreme Court held that "Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the_______________  ."

Question 61

Discuss how protestors are protected and restricted by the First Amendment.

Question 62

Discuss the constitutionality of flag burning. Explain your feelings about this symbolic act and whether it should be constitutionally protected.

Question 63

The ___________________ has protected religious practices from undue governmental restrictions and has broad applications (such as the regulation of hiring and firing decisions based on an employee's religious practices).

Question 64

A student at a predominantly African American high school insists on wearing a T-shirt that some say advocates white supremacy ideologies. Using the preferred freedoms approach, convince the school board to allow the student to wear the shirt to class.

Question 65

Rank the four basic freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment in descending order of importance to you, then explain why you rank them as you do.

Question 66

Discuss the evolution of the imminent lawless action test.

Question 67

Why is Snyder v. Phelps (2012) an important First Amendment case?

Question 68

In Prewitt v. State of Arizona ex rel. Eyman (1969), the Court justified the screening of inmate __________.

Question 69

Discuss the delicate balance being struck by the Court in achieving the separation of church and state in schools. Use case law to explain your answer.

Question 70

You represent a famous journalist who has been incarcerated for failure to disclose a confidential source to a prosecutor working on a murder case in your town. The prosecutor insists she needs all available information to convict a loathsome murderer. How would you argue to the judge that your client should not be imprisoned?

Question 71

A group of women, who are mothers of young children killed by handguns, has decided to protest. The local police chief refuses to enforce any gun control or gun violence legislation in her county, because she feels it won't work and it infringes on the Second Amendment. The women's group decides they will protest at an upcoming policeman's funeral. Do you think that the protesters should be subject to arrest? Why or why not?

Question 72

The constitutionality of prison regulations that restrict prisoners' First Amendment rights are judged by using a_______________  test.

Question 73

A young man told a few people that he had served in Afghanistan and was awarded the Silver Star. Unfortunately, one of these people told a newspaper reporter that she suspected the young man was being untruthful. The young man found himself on the cover of the newspaper with the headline, "Liar!" Everyone in town is angry about the case. The local prosecutor intends to prosecute the young man under a law forbidding lying about military service. This young man has come into your legal office asking you to represent him. He has been rejected by many attorneys in town. Would you take the case? Why or why not?

Question 74

Combined with the Fourth Amendment's guarantee to be free from "_______________," people have an expectation that they can gather to interact, speak among themselves, and make their thoughts and ideas known.

Question 75

In regard to strict scrutiny and prisoners' rights, the burden of proof falls to the ____________ to show the law is narrowly tailored to fit a compelling government interest.