Civil Liberties Lab

This site will present you with a number of labs about civil liberties to complete. Be creative and complete any four labs with whatever resources you have: pen and paper, audio recorder, still digital camera, or video camera.

Make a blog (blogspot*), flash web site (wix*), or wiki (wetpaint*) of all your labs, then send a link of your site to milnerj@uncsa.edu and we'll share all your work on our blogroll here at Civil Liberty Lab.

Now let's begin our work!

*All of these sites are free and recommended by me.

Bong Hits for Jesus

Speaking of religion and marijuana...


There was a recent case about religion, freedom of speech, and students' rights in Morse v Frederick. File a video, audio, or print mock-report from the Supreme Court as a reporter explaining the Supreme Court ruling and how it affects students. Post your response to your blog.

Dress Codes

On February 24, 1969, the landmark Supreme Court case, Tinker V. Des Moines, guaranteed that students had certain civil liberties in school. Since the 1980s the rights of students have become more limited.

What am I going to wear to school?

There is a legal answer to this question.
Speech is much more than just words. What you wear is considered a form of speech.
Many school districts across the nation have instituted student dress codes.

One school in Florida even banned rainbows.


Research any public school's dress code or rules about political speech, examine the constitutionality of that school's dress code and rules, and then do one of the following.

1)Write a letter informing an actual school of how they are violating the law and post your letter to your blog.

2)Reenact the landmark Supreme Court case, Tinker V. Des Moines, and post your reenactment (either in text, photographs, or video) on your blog.

3)Make a video collage of public schools that violate the law regarding dress codes and political rules.

Prom!

Can a same sex couple go to prom at a public high school?
Read what the law says and then document any school's policy.
Interview a member of that school's prom committee or an administrator to find out their school's policy on same sex couples attending prom.

Do one of the following
1)Write a letter to an actual school about the law and their policy regarding same sex couples attending prom. Post your letter to your blog.

2)Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper regarding same sex couples going to prom. Post your letter to your blog.

3)Watch what one high school student thinks about prom (below) and make your own video response (VBLOG) which you should post on YouTube and on your own blog.

Freedom to be crazy

There is an intereseting religion named Summum

They have petitioned a city government in Utah to put up a monument to their religion in a city park

Actually petition a real public entity (your town, city, county) to erect a monument to your religion (real or made up). Document your work and see what happens.

Freedom of Speech?

Warning. This lab may be very upsetting to some of you.

Is there any speech that you think goes too far to be protected by the First Amendment?

Some Supreme Court justice thought so.

Justice Robert H. Jackson said

"The Constitution is not a suicide pact" in a 1949 ruling.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, in formulating the clear and present danger doctrine, wrote that because of the danger it presented, it should be illegal to "scream fire in a crowded movie theater." Or, to update this thought, to yell, "Michael Jackson" in a kindergarten class.
The court has drawn lines of some things that are not protected speech
Is there anything you think goes too far and should not be protected speech?

Watch the following videos of the Westboro Baptist Church and then think about the limits of free speech (do you think these people should be allowed to protest soldiers' funerals?), and then make a response (VBLOG, essay, letter to the editor, etc.) that you post on your blog.

Don't forget Voltaire's famous words, "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it."

Flag Burning

And speaking of burning...


Can you legally burn a flag in the United States?

Is flag burning a form of protected speech?

In 1989, the Supreme Court answered this question in the case of Texas v Johnson.

Since then, there have been hundreds of attempts to amend the Constitution to outlaw flag burning. 

Do you think flag burning should be allowed as free and protected speech?

In a legal, safe, and creative way, tell us or show us your opinion on flag burning and post your response to your blog. Here is Penn and Teller's response.

This I Believe

Record a sound essay about civil liberties for This I Believe and submit it.
Post your sound recording on your blog.