First Amendment

noun

1. an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, prohibiting Congress from interfering with freedom of religion, speech, assembly, or petition.

First Amendment

¹

1. An amendment to the United States Constitution guaranteeing the rights of free expression and action that are fundamental to democratic government. These rights include freedom of assembly , freedom of the press , freedom of religion , and freedom of speech . The government is empowered, however, to restrict these freedoms if expression threatens to be destructive. Argument over the extent of First Amendment freedoms has often reached the Supreme Court . ( See clear and present danger , libel , and obscenity .)

First Amendment

²

1. The first article of the Bill of Rights . It forbids Congress from tampering with the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and the press.

Notes

The First Amendment begins the Bill of Rights .

Example Sentences

For most of the century since World War I, however, First Amendment norms kept prosecutors from trying to use that law to treat journalistic-style activities as a crime.

From New York Times

He has promised to deport protesters, and the prior time he was in office, he mused about having protesters practicing their First Amendment right to free assembly shot in the legs.

From Slate

On this week’s Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick was joined by professor Mary Anne Franks, author of Fearless Speech: Breaking Free From the First Amendment, to discuss why the metaphorical “marketplace of ideas” works so very much like an actual market, overwhelmingly white and male and harmful to the vulnerable.

From Slate

We’ve been telling ourselves in the United States that with the First Amendment, we’re protecting everyone equally, or even protecting the powerless more than the powerful.

From Slate

Think about how, if we actually were a free-speech-loving country, if the First Amendment meant anything, that kind of compelled speech should be first and foremost the kind of thing that we’re on guard about.

From Slate