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The First Amendment protects five core freedoms that are under attack every day — from the left, the right, and everywhere in between. First Five strives to foster interest in First Amendment news and provide a platform for discussion among enthusiasts and activists. Column is available weekly for NNA member newspapers to reprint.
In advance of the Freedom Forum’s 2021 Free Expression Awards on April 15, Patty Rhule describes how the nine honorees sparked change through free and fearless expression and asks us to consider ...
As religious communities prepare to celebrate major holidays, Benjamin P. Marcus describes in a video and column how the First Amendment can be used to help people of all religions and none feel like equal ...
The Freedom Forum has donated the 74-foot-tall First Amendment tablet, etched with the 45 words of the First Amendment that once fronted the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, to the National Constitution ...
Despite its flaws, an independent news media that holds government accountable for its actions is essential to ensuring democracy works, writes Gene Policinski.
Global data tracking religious affiliation shows a similar trend toward religiosity. The Pew Research Center calculates that religious affiliation in the world will grow to 84% by 2050. This has major ...
David Callaway looks at the recent election of Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock to discuss how religious freedom empowers Black Americans when access to other freedoms has been limited or denied.
David L. Hudson Jr. writes about the student free-speech questions facing the Supreme Court in a case that may be argued this spring: Can school officials punish a student for a social media post made ...
Robert Bickel and Gene Policinski show how the civil rights movement was made possible by the power of the First Amendment, including peaceful protests energized by Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks ...
As the Senate prepares for Trump’s impeachment trial to resume Feb. 9, Tony Mauro discusses the relation of this case to the 1969 Supreme Court decision that gave First Amendment protection to speakers ...
Patty Rhule talks about the launch of the Power Shift Project’s updated Workplace Integrity Curriculum in response to the nationwide reckoning on racial injustice and the COVID-19 pandemic challenges ...
In response to the quick arrests of the people who ransacked the Capitol, thanks to increasing forensic ability and enhanced surveillance, Gene Policinski talks about how we still need to be wary of the ...
Gene Policinski talks about the limits to the First Amendment and starts by noting that the First Amendment offers no legal shield from criminal prosecution for violent acts, individually or as part of ...
Gene Policinski talks about yesterday's events at the U.S. Capitol as a stain upon the fabric of democracy, and how these actions betray the core principles on which the United States was founded and the ...
Gene Policinski talks about the challenging year of 2020 and its many issues over First Amendment freedoms that will most likely flop over into the new year.
David Callaway talks about the question of whether or not it is constitutional to teach about religion in public schools, specifically Christmas, and ways educators can enrich students’ understanding ...
Gene Policinski talks about our nation’s annual Bill of Rights Day, which had a bit more reality for more of us in 2020 than in most years, and even though it passed again with little-to-no notice ...
Gene Policinski talks about the blatant disregard by Chinese officials of free press’ rights in support of democratic principles in Hong Kong and how the U.S. has lost moral high ground globally ...
Trey Daniel talks about how the practice of Religious Freedom, like most other spheres of human activity, has been radically affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Patty Rhule talks about how during this pandemic-era Thanksgiving, all of the freedoms of the First Amendment should be high on the list when counting our blessings and advice on how to keep political ...
Gene Policinski talks about the wild ride Americans are about to embark on in response to Justice Alito's recent speech listing grievances about the state of individual rights in America, with a special ...