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School
Hillsborough Community College *
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Course
75081
Subject
Political Science
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
Pages
3
Uploaded by CommodoreTitanium12490
1.
State the court case you selected and the ruling. (2 pts)
Lee v. Weisman, a ruling of 5-4.
2.
Does the court case you have chosen deal with the freedom of religion, press, speech, or expression? (1 pt)
Lee v. Weisman dealt with the freedom of religion.
3.
Summarize in your own words the court case. (2 paragraphs) (8pts)
On June 24
th
, 1992, the court case of Lee v. Weisman took place. Mr. Wiesman believed that himself and the other students, families and faculty should not have to be forced to join in prayer at a middle school graduation. The case involved a public school in Rhode Island. During the school’s graduation ceremony, the school invited a rabbi to deliver a prayer. Mr. Weisman filed a restraining order to prevent the rabbi from leading in prayer during the graduation ceremony. Wiesman filed because he believed the rabbi’s prayer violated the Establishment Clause of the first amendment. In this situation, he believed the provision of the Establishment Clause that the government cannot force people to believe in a religion. The school being a public school, and students, faculty, and guardians being required to attend the graduation ceremony, he believed the prayer to be in violation. In this case, the main question was whether it’s okay to have prayer in a public-school graduation ceremony or if it goes against your first amendment right. The Supreme Court looked at the issue and decided in favor of Weisman. The justices held that forced participation from the attendees of the public-school graduation ceremony represented government coercion to a particular religion clearly violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. This
important decision confirmed that public schools must stay neutral in matters involving religion to protect the rights of all students, faculty, and guardians no matter what one believes in.
4.
How did the court case alter the first amendment? (2 paragraphs) (10 pts)
Subsequent to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Lee v. Wiesman, the “coercion test” was developed to determine if certain actions by the government violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The test is used to establish whether coercive pressure is applied to an individual to support or participate in religion. This test will be used in the future as precedent in similar cases and for the government and it’s agencies to determine the constitutionality of their actions.
Due to the interpretation of the Establishment Clause in Lee v. Wiesman, prayers at public school graduations are unconstitutional. Since the government funds public schooling, the actions of public schools reflect those of the government. This requires schools to follow the rules governing the Establishment Clause religious freedom is protected.
5.
Amendment I deals with an individual's fundamental freedoms protected by the national government, the freedom of religion, press, speech, and expression. In your opinion, should the founding fathers have considered adding other freedoms? Explain your answer. (4 pts)
I think at the time the constitution and the amendments were passed, was a different time. Times have changed and evolved and there was no way for the founding fathers to anticipate things like cybercrime. Since the founding fathers took into account that times would change, they allowed for the Constitution to be amended so rights and liberties of citizens can be
protected. The founding fathers sought to protect the freedoms that were prominent to the time they were living in, and as things changed our government sought to protect the freedoms that became important over time.
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