The First Amendment declares that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...." Although the First Amendment clearly applies only to Congress, the Supreme Court had held that with the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, in 1868, its provisions became equally applicable to, and equally binding on, all of the States. The case law expounding the meaning, scope, significance, and boundaries of the First Amendment's two primary clauses (the "church/state" clause and the "free speech/press" clause), as applied to the states as well as to Congress, is rich, complex, wide-reaching, and challenging. This four-credit-hour semester course explores the content and contours of both clauses as applied in ever-changing contexts, from the very old to the very new. The course is divided in proportion to the relative significance these respective clauses have had, both currently as well as in the past. Two-thirds of the course will concern itself with the "speech/press" clause; the last third with the "church/state clause."
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