Opinion ID: 2226822
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Are First Amendment Rights Absolute?

Text: The First Amendment states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The Supreme Court has long recognized that [f]reedom of speech and of the press are fundamental rights which are safeguarded by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. De Jonge v Oregon, 299 US 353, 364; 57 S Ct 255; 81 L Ed 278 (1937). See Near v Minnesota ex rel Olson, 283 US 697, 707; 51 S Ct 625; 75 L Ed 1357 (1931); Gitlow v New York, 268 US 652, 666; 45 S Ct 625; 69 L Ed 1138 (1925). In contrast to the rights of freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly, the right to freedom of association is not expressly listed in the First Amendment. Nevertheless, [i]t is beyond debate that freedom to engage in association for the advancement of beliefs and ideas is an inseparable aspect of the `liberty' assured by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. NAACP v Alabama ex rel Patterson, 357 US 449, 460; 78 S Ct 1163; 2 L Ed 2d 1488 (1958). It is thus clear that freedom of speech and of association are both protected under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. However, the rights to free speech and association are not absolute. In Konigsberg v State Bar of California, 366 US 36, 49; 81 S Ct 997; 6 L Ed 2d 105 (1961), the Court reject[ed] the view that freedom of speech and association    are `absolutes' and held that the denial of petitioner's application to the California Bar for failure to answer any questions pertaining to his membership in the Communist Party did not violate the First Amendment. [11] The Court reaffirmed this concept 12 years later in United States Civil Service Comm v National Ass'n of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, 413 US 548, 567; 93 S Ct 2880; 37 L Ed 2d 796 (1973). In upholding the prohibition of federal employees from taking an active part in political management or in political campaigns in accordance with  9 of the Hatch act, 5 USC 7324(a)(2), Justice White acknowledged: [n]either the right to associate nor the right to participate in political activities is absolute. That there are limits to the First Amendment's protection was recognized in Buckley v Valeo, 424 US 1; 96 S Ct 612; 46 L Ed 2d 659 (1976), where the Court declared that [e]ven a `significant interference with protected rights of political association' may be sustained if the State demonstrates a sufficiently important interest. [12] Thus it is clear that the rights of freedom of speech and association, while fundamental to our Constitution and society, are not absolute.