First Amendment Case Notes (Grid)

Name:

Case – What is the name of the case? Where can the full case record be found? In what year was the case decided?

Facts – What are the key issues between the central parties of the case? What happened that is of legal significance?

Issue – What are the central legal issues the court must decide in order to arrive at a decision?

Holding – What did the court decide?

Reasoning – Why does the court decide the way it does? What is its logic and analysis of the facts?

Case	Facts	Issue	Holding	Reasoning
Schenck v. U.S.				The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a _____________________ [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent
West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette 1943			6-3	"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be ___________ in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or ____________ citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."
United States v. O'Brien 1968
Tinker v. Des Moines 1969		Symbolic speech in public school	7-2	In order for school officials to justify censoring speech, they "must be able to show that [their] action was caused by something more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an ______________ viewpoint,"
Cohen v. California 1971			5-4
Texas v Johnson 1989