This year’s Law Day celebrates the First Amendment with its theme: “Free speech, Free press, Free society.” The Daily Law Bulletin took a closer look at landmark cases — several with Illinois roots — that have shaped our constitutional rights.

  • 1791: The First Amendment was formally adopted as part of the U.S. Constitution, along with nine other amendments in the Bill of Rights. Eleven states voted to ratify the Bill of Rights.
  • 1868: The 14th Amendment was ratified, extending the protections from the Bill of Rights to state governments through the due process clause.
  • 1925: The U.S. Supreme Court rules for the first time that states must uphold the same standards for free speech as the federal government in Gitlow v. New York.
  • 1949:​​​​​ In Terminiello v. Chicago, the U.S. Supreme Court held a city ordinance that charged a Catholic priest with disorderly conduct for his speech criticizing Jews, African-Americans and New Deal Democrats violated his freedom of speech. The Chicago Civil Liberties Committee filed a complaint against Arthur Terminiello, charging him with disorderly conduct and assessed him a $100 fine for violating Chicago’s breach-of-peace ordinance, which he appealed. The Illinois Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court affirmed his conviction. The 5-4 SCOTUS majority determined speech could only be restricted if it was “likely to produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance or unrest.”
  • ►1952: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Illinois’ criminal group-libel law in Beauharnais v. Illinois. White supremacist leader Joseph Beauharnais was convicted in Chicago Municipal Court for distributing pamphlets that called upon Chicago officials to “halt the further encroachment, harassment and invasion of white people, their property, neighborhoods and persons” by African-Americans. The SCOTUS 5-4 majority found Beauharnais’ speech was not protected by the Constitution. The state law used to charge him was written to prevent racial violence caused by incendiary speech, Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote, and the extreme propaganda was intended to stoke public tension.
  • 1964: ​​​​In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court established the actual-malice standard for a statement to be considered libelous. In a unanimous opinion written by Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., the high court held that whomever was the intended target of an allegedly libelous statement has to show it was made “with knowledge of or reckless disregard for its falsity.”
  • 1968: The U.S. Supreme Court in Pickering v. Board of Education held that an Illinois school board violated a school teacher’s First Amendment rights when it fired him for writing about a school tax proposal in a letter to a local newspaper editor. Pickering sued in Will County Circuit Court alleging his letter was protected speech under the First Amendment. The court ruled in favor of the school board, and the Illinois Supreme Court later affirmed the decision. Before SCOTUS, with an 8-1 majority decision written by Justice Thurgood Marshall, the court determined there was no evidence Pickering’s statements were knowingly false or reckless.
  • 1969:​​​​​​ In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the U.S. Supreme Court determined students maintain their First Amendment rights on school grounds. In the high court’s 7-2 majority, Justice Abe Fortas wrote that the school must prove the conduct in question would “materially and substantially interfere” with its school functions in order for the speech to be oppressed.
  • ►1972: The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Chicago Police Department v. Mosley that an exemption to a Chicago ordinance that allowed for “peaceful labor picketing” near schools violated a man’s constitutional right to protest racial discrimination.
  • ►1974: ​​​​​The U.S. Supreme Court in Gertz v. Robert Welch Inc. held a private citizen’s rights should have more protection against libel than those in the public eye and that the actual-malice standard from New York Times Co. v. Sullivan did not apply to private individuals. Instead, state laws can set standards by which private individuals can win on defamation claims.
  • 1977: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie that officials in the near north suburb could not prevent the Nazi Party from marching in their village based on the content of its message.
  • 1988: ​​​​The U.S. Supreme Court in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier held school administrators could censor school-sponsored expression if it is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.”
  • 2007:​​​​​​ The U.S. Supreme Court held the rights students have to express political speech in school does not extend to messages that promote illegal drug use in Morse v. Frederick. An Alaska student was suspended for 10 days after holding up a sign stating “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at a school-supervised event. The 5-4 majority, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., held that Joseph Frederick’s message, though “cryptic,” could be interpreted as promoting marijuana.