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Chapter 2 · The First Amendment
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From the page before
Which of these is NOT protected by the First Amendment?
The answer: The right to bear arms
Why: The right to bear arms is in the Second Amendment. The First covers religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
A private social media company removes your post. Is that a First Amendment violation?
The answer: No — the First Amendment restrains government action, not private companies
Why: The First Amendment binds government. Whether big private sites should be treated like public squares is a live debate. It is a different question.
This is not a special class of person. It protects the act of publishing. That is why it covers a blogger and a TV network alike.
Stopping something before it is printed is called prior restraint. It faces the heaviest burden in our law.
Assembly and petition
The right to gather in peace. The right to ask government to fix something.
Petition is the most under-used right we have. It includes writing to your member of Congress. It includes speaking at a public meeting. It includes asking for public records.
Before you turn the page
What is 'prior restraint'?
Trying to recall a thing before you read it again is what makes it stick. That is why the question is here.
Nothing is scored. Nothing is saved. No one sees your answer, and there is no account to make.