Home » Take Action » Become a Student Activist » Case of the Month Archives » March 2002
Protestors' Rights Lesson Plan
When can the government legitimately limit a protester's freedom of expression?
Purpose
The purpose of this lesson plan is to give students the opportunity to further explore the issue of the First Amendment rights of protesters.
Grade
9-12
Objectives
Students should be able to:
1. Identify the major court cases dealing with freedom of expression in the context of protests.
2. Explain the characteristics of a protest that make it susceptible to or immune from government restriction.
3. Apply the principles learned here to an actual protester rights case.
Materials
1. Text of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law…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."
2. ACLU Briefing Paper: Freedom of Expression
3. ACLU News Article:
"ACLU Defends PETA's Next-to-Nude "Tiger Lady" Against
Indecency Charges for Exposing Cruelty to Animals"
4. National Lawyers Guild Manuels on Exercising Your Right to Protest
5. Web Site on the First Amendment by David Morales, former student at Miami Killian Senior High School
6. Links to other free speech sites
Activities
1. The teacher should lecture about the First Amendment's protection
of protesters' freedom of expression.
2. Students should then read the Tiger Lady news article (teacher
can substitute any article or case about a limitation on protester
rights), analyzing it with respect to the issues raised in this Case
of the Month and the class discussion. The teacher should then facilitate
a discussion on free expression and protests, using the newspaper
article as a platform for raising pertinent cases and issues. The
class should then discuss how the government and/or protesters should
have acted differently, in accordance with the Constitution.
3. Optional: Students should find out what their school's policy is
toward student protests, and then determine whether it is constitutional
or not.
