Freedom of Speech and Expression The First 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.

Muhammad Cartoons Published in the Danish newspaper, The Jyllands-Posten September 30, 2005

The Ku Klux Klan adopted a portion of Interstate 55 just south of St. Louis, Missouri. While legally the program had to uphold the groups' rights to participate, the public outcry and repeated destruction of their sign was a cause of concern. In November 2000, the section of highway was designated as the Rosa Parks Freeway, named after the famed civil-rights heroine. KKK sponsorship was later dropped from the program for its inability to fulfill its obligations, and the Missouri Department of Transportation adopted specific criteria to prohibit hate groups from future participation. However, the United States Supreme Court ruled that any attempt to bar the Klan from participation in the Adopt-a-Highway program on the basis of the group's purpose is a violation of the First Amendment.

Boulder Atheists Colorado Coalition of Reason The Boulder Atheists are part of the Colorado Coalition of Reason. This group has purchased such billboards to support the separation of church and state. In 2010, a nativity scene was displayed outside the Denver City and County Building. The Coalition of Reason protested this through the display of 3 billboards with this message. They received 50,000 hits on their website after the billboard was displayed.

“Obey Giant” Poster Does this poster mean anything to you? What associations does it have for you? Where have you seen it? "The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker.“ Street artist Shepard Fairy became famous in the late 1980s due to his “Obey Giant” poster. Shepard Fairy later became even more famous for his “Hope Poster” during the Obama campaign of 2008.

PROPONENTS of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign websites. They believe stronger enforcement tools are needed because present laws do not cover foreign owned and operated sites, such as rogue websites which are currently accessed by U.S. search engines,

OPPONENTS of the bill say the proposed legislation threatens free speech and innovation, and enables law enforcement to block access to entire internet domains due to infringing material posted on a single blog or webpage. They have raised concerns that SOPA would bypass the "safe harbor" protections from liability presently afforded to Internet sites by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Library associations have expressed concerns that the bill's emphasis on stronger copyright enforcement would expose libraries to prosecution. Other opponents state that requiring search engines to delete a domain name could begin a worldwide censorship of the Web and this violates the First Amendment.

Harvard University 1991 Challenge to Free Speech

“Protecting Freedom of Speech on the Campus” by Derek Bok 1)Read the article. 2)Brainstorm the parts of Derek Bok’s argument. Identify what is effective about the argument and what is not effective. 3)Write a paragraph analyzing Bok’s argument. Start with a topic sentence that identifies the title of the article, the authors, and the claim of the article. Analyze at least three parts of the argument and give examples from the article to support your point. End with a concluding sentence that states your evaluation of the argument—if you think it is valid and effective or not.