I took the First Amendment Quiz and got a 24/50. When looking at my results, I was actually pretty surprised at some of the answers. The first question that I missed was the one regarding whether or not a reporter can be sent to jail for refusing to reveal to a judge the identity of their news source. It makes sense now after reading the answer explanation stating that the court might decide that the law doesn’t protect a journalist, and that could result in jail time if the journalist continues to refuse to cooperate. It’s still shocking nonetheless. I was also surprised by the question regarding whether or not the Constitution prohibits private schools from punishing students who participate in peaceful, lawful speech activities. However, it made sense to me when it explained that this does not apply since school administration are not government officials, and therefore are not limited by the first amendment.

The case that I chose from the chapter was the New York Times vs. Sullivan case. What I found interesting about the case is that it set an entirely new standard for protected speech right in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. Also, the law of libel was rewritten in a single day, helping show the true importance of free speech for democracy. I did find a rather recent article written by CNBC regarding Trump suing CNN for libel over an opinion article written about his supposed involvement with Russia and interfering with election results. The cases seem quite similar when considering that both Sullivan and Trump sued the news organizations for libel with the argument that the statements made were factually incorrect. The law that the court and Justice Brennan rewrote back then states that debate on public issues may well include unpleasantly sharp attacks on government officials. This statement and law subsequently apply to both cases.