The First Amendment

The First Amendment protects freedom of religion, speech, the press, peaceable assembly, and the right to petition the government. It is the opening clause of the Bill of Rights and the cornerstone of American civil liberty.

Ratified in 1791, the First Amendment reads: "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." Five distinct freedoms are packed into a single sentence. Each has generated its own body of constitutional law. The Religion Clauses prohibit a federal church and protect private worship. The Speech and Press Clauses prevent the government from punishing expression. The Assembly and Petition Clauses guarantee the right to organize and to demand a hearing from those who govern. For most of American history, these protections applied only against the federal government. The Supreme Court began applying them against the states after the Civil War through the Fourteenth Amendment, in a process called incorporation. By the middle of the twentieth century, the entire First Amendment had been incorporated. The Court has read the Free Speech Clause to protect a broad range of expression, including political speech, symbolic speech, and even speech most Americans find offensive. The narrow exceptions include incitement to imminent lawless action, true threats, fighting words, defamation, obscenity, and a few others. The amendment does not require private companies to host any particular speech, nor does it prevent ordinary social consequences for what a person says. It binds the government. That distinction is the heart of most modern First Amendment debates.