1st amendment

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The First Amendment
The First Amendment was established to guard the freedom of speech, media and religion (Kauffman 2). Moreover, it has given the people a right to have peaceful protests and to petition against the local and federal governments. The law prohibits the congress from creating laws that will establish a national religion, hinder the practice of a certain religion, hinder the freedom of speech, media and the right to assembly (Kauffman 2). The amendment was implemented in 1791 along with other nine amendments that formed the bill of rights.
On of the landmark cases of the First Amendment was the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d. 731 (1969). In this case, the school banned wearing of armbands after finding out that the students had planned to do so in protest against the Vietnam war (Kauffman 10). Some of the students were suspended from school due to wearing the armbands. After the students took the matter to the Supreme Court, it was ruled that the First Amendment defends students rights to express their social and political views (Kauffman 11).
One contemporary case of the First Amendment is the Reed vs. Town of gilbert. In this case, the Town of Gilbert passed an ordinance that regulated the installation of signs in the town (Kauffman 15). The new town law applied different restrictions to the different categories of signs. The Good News Church and Reed istalled signs that directed parishioners to the service.

Reed was cited by the town’s sign code compliance manager on two occassions. The Church and Reed sued the local government claiming that it had abridged their right of speech. Since the ordinance enforced some content-based limitations on free speech, Justice Thomas held that the regulation would have only been constitutional if it would survive the strict scrutiny (Kauffman 16).
In conclusion, the First Amendment has enabled the American people to fight against the wrongdoings of the government. Moreover, it has enabled the people to access more information without any hinderence from the government such as checking the media content.

Work Cited
Kauffman, Kent D. “The First Amendment and Provocative Teaching: Lessons from the Evidence.” (2017).