Penn State
Lewis Katz Building, University Park, PA
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First Amendment

Course Abbreviation: 
CONLW 965
Credits: 
3
Credit Only: N Anon Gr: Y

This is a course about the freedoms of speech, press, religion, association, and assembly under the First Amendment. Two-thirds of the course will be about freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. We will examine historical context, doctrinal development, and current caselaw. We will ask why government regulates speech, the methods it uses for doing so, and what justifications are ever sufficient for limiting speech. Among other topics, we will examine issues surrounding the use of public spaces, the role of the institutional press, campaign finance, symbolic speech, the law of obscenity and defamation, and the rights of private organizations to determine their membership. The final one-third of the course will provide an introduction to the First Amendment's treatment of religion. We will ask how the two clauses in the First Amendment dealing with religion--the Free Exercise and Establishment Clause--relate to each other, and explore a few of the most important debates about them.

Prerequisites: 
None
Faculty: 
Mark Storslee