Justice Samuel Alito, The Roberts Court and the First Amendment

Join the Rendell Center for Civic Engagement and PA Civics for this free 90 minute webinar designed especially for teachers! In this session, we will explore how succeeding generations of Supreme Court justices, have reshaped the meaning of the Bill of Rights. Presented by Keith Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics,Princeton University

This session will include:

-Dynamic content sessions with renowned constitutional and legal scholars.
Critical skill development and tools to apply teachings immediately in your classes.

-Valuable reference materials and tools, including a list of books, casebook, and suggested lesson plans and activities to enhance your teaching.

Topics to be covered include:

-An analysis of the origins of, and continuing debates over, the historical Originalism versus “living, evolving, Constitutionalism” theories for interpreting the Constitution and Justice Alito’s place in this discussion;
-A full discussion of how the current Supreme Court has divided over the question of whether, and how, to use historical analysis to interpret the Freedom of Speech right; and
-An analysis, using current Freedom of Speech decisions, of how the meaning of the Freedom of Speech right might change further as those precedents are applied to 21st-century communication technologies.

Cases To Be Discussed

Tinker v Des Moines School District
Morse v Frederick
Mahonay School District v B.L.
Snyder v Phelps
Brown v Entertainment Merchants Association