The First Amendment: What Do You Know?

As part of this month’s Civic Lessons, you’re invited to test your knowledge of First Amendment rights by taking a quiz.

As part of this month’s Civic Lessons, you’re invited to test your knowledge of First Amendment rights by taking the following quiz developed by the Student Press Law Center (www.splc.org) in Arlington, Va. Better yet, take the quiz along with your teenagers. You can check how you fared online at www.latinopm.com. (Answers will be posted January 5th)

1. The Bill of Rights is:

A. The first 10 amendments to

    the U.S. Constitution.

B. The statement police must read

    to you when you are arrested.

C. The opening paragraph of the

    Declaration of Independence.

D. The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.

2. How does the First Amendment begin?

A. “Four score and seven years ago….”

B. “When, in the course of human events…’”

C. “Freedom of speech and of the

     press shall not be abridged….”

D. “Congress shall make no law….”

3. The First Amendment protects students while at school.

A. True

B. False

4. Which of the following is not a right explicitly protected by the First Amendment?

A. Press

B. Privacy

C. Assembly

D. Religion

5. The Constitution prohibits public school teachers from teaching about religion in school.

A. True

B. False

6. Which of the following categories of speech is never protected by the First Amendment?

A. Indecent speech on the Internet

B. Four-letter words

C. Obscenity

D. Nudity

7. The First Amendment protects a citizen’s right to burn the American flag as a form of political protest.

A. True

B. False

8. At what age does the First Amendment officially begin to protect a person’s free speech rights?

A. 18

B. 21

C. 16

D. None of the above

9. Which of the following categories of speech is never protected by the First Amendment?

A. Expression intended and likely to incite

B. “True Threats”

C. Clear and immediate threats

     to national security

D. All of the above

10. Which of the following categories of speech is never protected by the First Amendment?

A. Use of racial epithets

B. Ridiculing a person’s ethnicity

C. Speech that demeans a person’s gender

D. Speech that violates a person’s

    legal right to privacy

11. The government can ban song lyrics that most people would find offensive.

A. True

B. False

12. Which of the following categories of speech is never protected by the First Amendment?

A. Copyright infringement

B. Ridiculing a person’s sexual orientation

C. Indecent speech

D. Lying

13. The First Amendment limits the authority of school officials to strip search students.

A. True

B. False

14. The First Amendment prohibits private schools that accept government funding from censoring or punishing students who participate in lawful and peaceful on-campus speech activities.

A. True

B. False

15. Which student is likely to prevail on his or her First Amendment claim?

A. Rebecca wants to challenge the school’s

    wearing micro miniskirts in school.

    that prohibits students from wearing flip-
    flops to class.

    that prohibits her from wearing an anti-

    war T-shirt to school.

    that prohibits students from dyeing their

     hair bright, unnatural colors.

16. The church/state clause of the First Amendment prohibits students from praying in class before a test.

A. True

B. False

17. Students cannot be forced to pledge allegiance to the flag.

A. True

B. False

18. A public school can lawfully enact a campus speech code that prohibits “harassing, demeaning, highly offensive or insulting speech based on one’s actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other personal characteristic.”

A. True.

B. False

19. A press pass gives reporters a First Amendment right to trespass on private
property when covering the news.

A. True

B. False

20. Which of the following categories of speech is never protected by the First Amendment?

A. Hate speech

B. Defamation

C. Profanity

D. Harsh criticism of a person’s

    religious beliefs

21. Where a public school fully funds its student newspaper, public high school principals have unlimited authority to dictate its content.

A. True

B. False

22. The First Amendment does not protect which of the following beliefs?

A. Islam

B. Satanism

C. Christianity

D. The First Amendment

   protects all of the above.

ANSWERS KEY: 1. A; 2. D; 3. A; 4. B; 5. B; 6. C; 7. A; 8. D; 9. D; 10. D; 11. B; 12. A; 13. B; 14. B; 15. C; 16. B; 17. A; 18. B; 19. B; 20. B; 21. B; 22. D.