Deck 3: Speech Distinctions

Question 1

Fighting words

A)are words said in the heat of the moment
B)threaten to immediately disturb the peace
C)are not part of the exchange of ideas
D)are legally obscene
E)are fully protected speech

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Wars generally,and the current "war on terror" specifically, [Threats to National Security] Conceptual

A)increase the willingness of Congress and the Supreme Court to accept laws that punish speech that might undermine national security and international effectiveness
B)increase the willingness of Congress and the Supreme Court to counterbalance the tendency to stifle speech during times of heightened anxiety
C)have no demonstrable effect on First Amendment jurisprudence
D)decrease the willingness of Congress and the Supreme Court to accept laws that target dissent and association

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Chilling effect is the name used to describe

A)a policy to segregate political protestors to avoid violence
B)the tendency for unclear government regulations to discourage the exercise of constitutionally protected rights
C)the tendency for forceful speakers to shut out alternative views
D)the tendency for open debate to move people from sharp disagreement toward consensus
E)none of the above

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The First Amendment

A)protects the right of citizens to assemble in non-violent gatherings
B)protects the right of citizens to assemble and disrupt the peace
C)provides protection for unlicensed assemblies
D)says nothing about public assemblies
E)right of assembly has not been interpreted or applied by the U.S.Supreme Court

Question 5

The U.S.Supreme Court has said the First Amendment requires particularly sensitive or vulnerable individuals

A)to be protected from offense,upset,and disquiet
B)to be forewarned of any potentially offensive expression
C)to avert their eyes and ignore most offensive expression
D)to be given equal time in any public forum to respond to offensive expression
E)to seek statutory protection for their interests

Question 6

XYZ television network presents a movie showing two 10-year-old boys playing with a gun owned by one of the children's parents.The gun accidentally fires,severely injuring one of the boys.Shortly after the movie runs,two young brothers find a gun in their house.While playing with the gun,the gun fires and kills one of the boys.The brothers' parents sue XYZ television network.The parents will [Media and Physical Harm] Conceptual Former 4e Ch.7 QB #9

A)lose because XYZ television network could not have foreseen that those children would watch the movie and try to imitate what they saw
B)lose because XYZ television network did not know a rifle can be dangerous
C)win because XYZ television network intended to harm a viewer
D)win because XYZ television network owed a duty to the dead child and breached the duty

Question 7

The types of speech that threaten national security [Threats to National Security] Conceptual

A)vacillate with the political and social climate of the times
B)are clearly defined in one federal statute
C)are clearly defined in one Supreme Court ruling
D)are established through international treaties and agreements

Question 8

The Supreme Court's categories of speech provide [Introduction] Conceptual

A)clear and consistent decision-making
B)fuzzy boundaries with decisions that rely heavily on the circumstances and the consequences of the specific speech act
C)an alternative to categorical balancing
D)none of the above

Question 9

Laws that make viewpoint-based discriminations

A)are especially objectionable to the First Amendment
B)are reviewed under strict scrutiny
C)are content-based
D)are generally unconstitutional
E)all of the above

Question 10

A pharmacist wrote a book about drugs people can buy without a prescription.The book said Drmxz,an over-the-counter cold medication,had no side effects.However,Drmzx can cause serious problems in people who have liver problems.The pharmacist had accidentally overlooked that side effect.Cheryl,who has liver trouble,read the book,bought and took Drmzx,and suffered severe symptoms.Cheryl sued the book publisher for causing her injuries.Cheryl likely will [Media and Physical Harm] Conceptual Former4e Ch.7 QB #11

A)win,because publishers are responsible when they distribute a book with a mistake
B)win,but only if the medication came close to killing Cheryl
C)win,but only if the pharmacist is an expert on cold medications and liver problems
D)lose,because courts say book publishers cannot verify all the information in every book they publish

Question 11

The "chilling effect" occurs when [Threats to National Security] Vocabulary

A)the Supreme Court strikes down federal statutes designed to protect national security and tranquility
B)Congress criticizes the actions of either of the other two branches of federal government
C)laws do not clearly define the illegal conduct they punish
D)you get a headache because you eat ice cream too rapidly

Question 12

The First Amendment's protection of disruptive speech

A)is variable and uncertain
B)is stable regardless of political,economic,or social conditions
C)is greatest when the U.S.Supreme Court applies the clear and present danger test
D)both A and C
E)none of the above

Question 13

Laws that protect national security by punishing speakers who incite violent actions are

A)always unconstitutional
B)always constitutional
C)unconstitutional even when the speech incites extreme and immediate violent acts to overthrow government
D)constitutional if they pass the Brandenburg test
E)unconstitutional if they pass the Brandenburg test

Question 14

The explicit text of the U.S.Constitution

A)establishes that First Amendment rights are not equal for children and adults
B)establishes government authority to control all expression within public schools
C)establishes public universities as public forums where the content of speech may not be regulated
D)says nothing about different First Amendment rights for children and adults
E)says all citizens have equal First Amendment rights

Question 15

A newspaper published a classified advertisement that said,"Having trouble? Need to remove someone? Contact me to get rid of your problems.Bill." Dick hired Bill to kill his golfing partner,Frank.Frank's family sued the newspaper.A court likely would find [Media and Physical Harm] Conceptual Former 4e Ch.7 QB #10

A)a reasonable person could not understand the advertisement meant "murder for hire"
B)the newspaper's free speech rights protect all the ads it runs
C)a reasonable person should have known the advertisement had a substantial likelihood of causing harm
D)the newspaper is not responsible for the ad even if it could be understood as meaning "murder for hire"

Question 16

Categorical balancing

A)balances whole categories of speech against competing rights to determine the extent of constitutional protection
B)establishes categories of speech based on the content and the circumstances of the speech
C)establishes categories of speech based on the identity of the speaker
D)weighs different categories of speech against each other to establish a hierarchy of speech rights
E)A,B,and D

Question 17

In a physical harm lawsuit,a direct relationship between the plaintiff's action and the defendant's injury is called [Media and Physical Harm] Conceptual Former 4e Ch.7 QB #12

A)proximate cause
B)factual cause
C)negligence
D)intentional injury

Question 18

If a court uses the incitement test when a mass medium is sued for causing physical harm,the plaintiff [Media Incitement to Harm] Factual

A)has to prove only that s/he was harmed by the medium
B)almost always wins
C)usually wins if the damage is physical
D)rarely wins

Question 19

The clear and present danger test

A)was adopted by the U.S.Supreme Court after it found the bad tendency test allowed government to punish too much harmless speech
B)was abandoned and replaced by the bad tendency test
C)was influential but was never adopted by the full U.S.Supreme Court or used to decide any cases
D)both A and B
E)both B and C

Question 20

Public schools may regulate student expression when it

A)disrupts education
B)is lewd or obscene
C)is sponsored by the school or is likely to be understood to represent the school
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 21

The doctrine of the heckler's veto protects the free speech rights of minorities by giving lone dissenters equal rights to speak as individuals chosen as part of an organized speech activity.

Question 22

Incorporation is the name of the concept that the Fourteenth Amendment extends the reach of the Bill of Rights to apply equally to state governments.

Question 23

The First Amendment protects an individual's right not to speak and limits the power of government to force individuals to sign oaths or join particular groups.

Question 24

Given the role of the schools in inculcating values and teaching social responsibility,the U.S.Supreme Court in Tinker v.Des Moines Independent School District said school officials may prohibit student speech that might potentially disrupt school activities.

Question 25

The First Amendment favors underinclusive laws because they target only a subset of a natural group of expression for regulation.

Question 26

Symbolic speech exists when

A)actions are closely related to speech and are intended to send a message that others will understand
B)symbols other than the alphabet convey messages
C)actions convey any meaning to other person regardless of intent or context
D)none of the above

Question 27

Supreme Court decisions establish clearly that students in public schools (K-12)

A)enjoy the same protection of school-related speech as do university students
B)may have their school-related speech restricted to serve other important government interests
C)may never have their school-related speech restricted by school authorities
D)enjoy no freedom of speech in school

Question 28

When the court weighs different categories of speech against competing interests,it is using ad hoc balancing to determine First Amendment protections.

Question 29

Hate speech is a legally defined category that the U.S.Supreme Court has ruled does not deserve First Amendment protection.

Question 30

When a law is challenged as applied,courts judge the law's constitutionality based entirely on the language of the law.

Question 31

The doctrine that permits government to restrict First Amendment rights when restrictions are needed to prevent an extremely serious and imminent harm is called the clear and present danger standard.

Question 32

True threats,which are directed at an individual with the intent and likelihood of causing the listener to fear bodily harm,are one category of punishable speech.

Question 33

In both R.A.V.v.St.Paul and Virginia v.Black,the U.S.Supreme Court held that cross-burning is such a harmful category of speech that it may be banned or punished by government.

Question 34

In Tinker v.Des Moines Independent School District,the U.S.Supreme Court ruled that public schools may punish disruptive student protests that disturb educational activities.

Question 35

Under the Supreme Court's decision in Chaplinsky v.New Hampshire,government may punish fighting words when speech [Fighting Words] Conceptual

A)has a bad tendency
B)generally inflames and angers individuals
C)is directed at an individual and prompts immediate violence or inflicts emotional harm
D)contributes little of value to democratic debate and encourages dislike of historically discriminated groups

Question 36

Although the Supreme Court's decision in Elonis v.United States did not clearly define them,the Court previously established that true threats may be punishable when [Intimidation and Threats] Conceptual

A)the average person applying reasonable standards would perceive a possible threat
B)a reasonable listener might feel threatened
C)a sensitive listener might feel threatened
D)the speaker intends to threaten physical harm or to create pervasive fear in a targeted individual or group

Question 37

Research shows a real but uncertain link between media depictions of violence and violent actions by viewers.As a result, [Media and Physical Harm] Conceptual

A)media are required by law to limit the amount and degree of violent content in all their products
B)successful lawsuits for media negligence must show the media were the proximate cause of the harm they could reasonably foresee
C)media defendants almost always lose when sued for physical harm
D)courts presume that media are the proximate cause of viewer violence

Question 38

In Brandenburg v.Ohio,the U.S.Supreme Court said the advocacy of violence is protected speech unless it is intended to and likely to incite imminent violence or illegal activity.

Question 39

The U.S.Supreme Court struck down the anti-hate ordinance at issue in R.A.V.v.St.Paul in part because the law was underinclusive.

Question 40

Students in all public educational institutions,whether primary schools or universities,enjoy the same protection from regulation of their speech.

Question 41

Discuss the test developed by the U.S.Supreme Court in Brandenburg v.Ohio,explain how it relates to the bad tendency and clear and present danger tests,and describe its role in U.S.Supreme Court decision-making.

Question 42

When can school administrators regulate the content of student speech in public schools,and how does the Court justify permitting such infringements of free speech?

Question 43

Using the case of Frederick v.Morse as one example to illustrate your points,discuss how the U.S.Supreme Court views the power of government to regulate off-campus or online speech by public school students.

Question 44

The Supreme Court has held that student speech rights must be balanced against the needs of the schools.
Conceptual Speech in the Schools

Question 45

First Amendment protections are not absolute.

Question 46

Only when media intentionally and directly harm an individual will they be found negligent.
Vocabulary Media and Physical Harm

Question 47

National security and the education and protection of immature children are sufficiently important government interests that laws to advance these interests may infringe upon First Amendment rights without violating the Constitution.

Question 48

Under the symbolic speech doctrine,the First Amendment provides no protection from government regulation of actions intended to convey messages.
Conceptual Speech Assaults

Question 49

The Supreme Court currently uses the clear and present danger test to decide when the First Amendment allows government to punish disruptive speech.
Factual Court Tests to Protect Disruptive Speech

Question 50

Under the Supreme Court's ruling in Tinker v.Des Moines Independent School District,school administrators may punish student speech that does not disrupt school.
Factual Speech in the Schools

Question 51

If speech and action are mixed together,such as in the symbolic act of burning a flag,the speech deserves no greater protection from regulation than would a non-symbolic action,such as burning trash.

Question 52

Since the Supreme Court's ruling in RAV v.St.Paul,anti-hate speech ordinances are presumptively constitutional.
Factual Speech Assaults

Question 53

Many of the speech harms identified by Congress and reviewed by the Supreme Court either implicitly or explicitly incorporate the notion of a reasonable person.Critique this reasonable person standard given the First Amendment's apparent assumption that laws should not unnecessarily abridge the freedom of speech.

Question 54

Hate speech is not a legally defined category.
Conceptual Speech Assaults

Question 55

Supreme Court decisions have developed numerous categories of speech in an effort to establish clearly when speech that may harm,frighten,intimidate,offend,or infringe the civil liberties of others is/is not protected under the First Amendment.Use the category of speech incitement to discuss the ways in which speech categories do not always succeed in clarifying the boundaries of protected speech.

Question 56

Words directed at an individual with an intention to inflict injury or incite immediate illegal actions are called fighting words.
Vocabulary Speech Assaults

Question 57

The tendency of the government to suppress speech increases during periods of increased national fear and instability.
Factual National Security and Tranquility

Question 58

An as-applied challenge to a law generally occurs before a law takes effect.
Conceptual Court Tests to Protect Disruptive Speech

Question 59

The U.S.Supreme Court generally has found university speech codes constitutional because they advance the educational interests of university administrators.