New York City passes a law that prohibits demonstrators from protesting in Central Park during holidays due to the unusually large crowds that gather in Central Park at those times. A group of...

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   New York City passes a law that prohibits demonstrators from protesting in Central Park during holidays due to the unusually large crowds that gather in Central Park at those times.

   
   

A group of individuals seek to protest the celebration of Christmas as a mandatory holiday and claim that the city is violating their First Amendment rights by not allowing them to protest in Central Park on December 25th.

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   Does the law violate the First Amendment? Explain.

   
   




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   California passes a law that restricts the “malicious and willful disturbance of the peace of any neighborhood or person by offensive conduct.”

   
   

David is convicted under the statute for wearing a shirt that depicts an image of a middle finger directed at the county courthouse during his court appearance. The state claimed that David’s shirt is offensive to employees of the court.

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   Does the California law violate David’s First Amendment rights? Explain.

   
   




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   In Pennsylvania, students who attend public schools are required to read at least ten verses from the Bible. After completing these readings, school authorities require all Abington Township students to recite the Lord's Prayer. Students can be excluded from these exercises by a written note from their parents to the school.

   
   

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   Does the public school policy requiring students to participate in classroom religious exercises, violate the First Amendment? Explain.

   
   




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   Texas erects a display of the Ten Commandments on government property outside the Texas State Capital. Orden, a Texas resident, seeks a declaration that the monument’s placement supports a particular religion and thereby violates the First Amendment.

   
   

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   Does the display of the Ten Commandments violate the First Amendment? Explain.

   
   




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   Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller, both members of the Old Order Amish religion, and Adin Yutzy, a member of the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church, are prosecuted under a Wisconsin law that requires all children to attend public schools until age 16. The three parents refused to send their children to such schools after the eighth grade, arguing that high school attendance would destroy the free exercise of religious beliefs.

   
   

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   Does Wisconsin's requirement that all children have a formal high school education beyond the eighth grade violate the First Amendment? Explain.

   
   




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   Alfred Smith and Galen Black were fired from a state drug rehabilitation clinic for using a hallucinogenic drug called peyote (for religious purposes) during worship at their Native American Church. The Oregon Employment Division denied them unemployment compensation because it deemed they were fired for work-related "misconduct."

   
   

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   Does the firing and state denial of unemployment benefits violate the First Amendment rights of Smith and Black? Explain.

   
   




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   California’s governor creates an executive order that prohibits places of worship from having more than 25% of their capacity or over 100 persons due to the risk of COVID-19. Several churches sue as a violation of their free exercise rights.

   
   

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   Does the executive order infringe on the free exercise rights? (Hint: look up SOUTH BAY UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, ET AL. v. GAVIN NEWSOM, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA) (Yes this class is pretty up to date!)

   
   




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