The First Amendment’s Limit: The Supreme Court’s Plaza

The first amendment is a very powerful tool but only has so much power. In 2011 Chief Justice John G. Roberts showed the father of a fallen soldier how difficult it can be to deal with the first amendment because while he was trying to bury his son who had died in battle he was met by protesters who used hurtful speech and protested the funeral. The protesters speech was protected under the first amendment which is something very had to deal with in a time of such sorrow. The Supreme Court can not do much in a situation like this because although this situation is very ugly and does not look good on the protesters they did nothing wrong under the first amendment and were allowed to say whatever they like because of their right to petition the government for grievances. This is not the first time a case like this has been examined by the Supreme Court either. Events like this happen all of the time but even though they may be immoral they are completely protected and everyone has the ability to speak freely. Without the ability for people to speak freely or being punished for saying things our country would not be able to function and life as we know it would be completely different.


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