LAW 306 - First Amendment Seminar.

This course will focus on the emergence and development of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech, press, and religion clauses. A guiding principle of the course is that the First Amendment is best understood through a chronological approach which traces: (a) historical precedents to the enactment of the First Amendment; (b) the original intent of the First Amendment; (c) the sedition prosecutions of the Adams administration; (d) the “forgotten” years of the speech, press, and religion clauses throughout the 19^th and first part of the 20^th centuries; (e) the dramatic impact of the World War I espionage cases on speech rights; (f) the development of First Amendment case law, spurred on by 14^th Amendment incorporation, from the 1920s through the 1950s; (g), the explosion of First Amendment case law effectuated by the Warren and Burger Courts; and (h) the current understanding of the speech, press, and religion clauses. Not open to students who have taken Contemporary Problems in Law and Journalism Two hours. Barnhill Not offered in 2019-2020.