GOV 310L Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cup-Bearer, Westboro Baptist Church
Document Summary
People of right to alternative ideas and parties. Congress shall make no law impeding freedom of speech or the press. Government couldn"t interfere with freedom of expression in the states/ Since 1919 supreme court has been elaborating sets of rules as to what is and isn"t allowed. Tyranny of the majority people who hold minority opinions are often unpopular and majority would want to suppress them. Not just gov"t, but sometimes the public themselves don"t want to grant democratic freedoms to people they don"t like. Courts are called upon to protect unpopular minority from having their expressions suppressed by the majority. When us entered wwi, congress passed law forbidding various people from interfering with war effort; when military draft was passed, many tried to interfere, thus violating the law. Schenk v. us (1919), supreme court says u don"t have right to interfere; public authorities have right to suppress speech if there is a clear and present danger .
