On its face, the First Amendment’s free speech clause appears to have no restrictions. And most famously, the First Amendment protects, our topic today, “the freedom of speech.” The First Amendment protects the right of individuals to join together in groups. It contains no less than two clauses protecting religious rights. The First Amendment protects the freedom of the press. And just like the hydra had many heads, the First Amendment contains numerous clauses. Added to the Constitution in 1791, the First Amendment is like the hydra found in the legends of the ancient world. The First Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights. The United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in 2002. However, the highest court in the State struck down the law. The Virginia Court of Appeal’s upheld their convictions. Burning a cross, in and of itself, was enough for a jury to convict an individual of intimidation. That law, which was first passed in 1952 and revised in ‘68, made it a felony to burn a cross with the intention to intimidate. Richard Elliott, Jonathan O’Mara, and Barry Black, the Klansman who was behind the cross burning in Carroll County, were all convicted of violating Virginia law. A Black family, driving across a nearby road, felt so threatened by the sight of the large burning cross, that they drove as quickly as they could away from the scene. Jubilee’s neighbor, and Jonathan O’Mara.Ī few months later, in Carroll County, Virginia, the Ku Klux Klan held a gathering that featured a cross-burning, threats to shoot Blacks, and racially-charged comments about members of minority groups. The cross was burned by two men, Richard Elliott, Mr. Jubilee had complained to his neighbor about gunshots coming from a firing range that had been set up in his neighbor’s backyard.
James Jubilee, a Black man, found the burned cross near his home in Virginia Beach in May of 1998. In this episode, we’ll discuss the freedom of speech and the role of the United States Supreme Court in interpreting the First Amendment’s free speech clause. This is “My Constitution,” a podcast from the Center for C-SPAN Scholarship & Engagement at Purdue University.
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