Media Law & Literacy

The six freedoms of the First Amendment sound pretty simple. They include freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, but the “Black Lives Matter” article in “The First Amendment Encyclopedia” shows that exercising your freedom of speech and right to assemble can lead to a complex chain of reactions and can result in violence. The “Black Lives Matter” movement began with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who had shot and killed a Black teen, Trayvon Martin, who had simply been walking by Zimmerman’s property one evening in 2012. Zimmerman got acquitted by saying he was defending his property, even though he had essentially murdered Martin for merely “walking while Black”.  First Amendment freedom issues entered the “Black Lives Matter” movement when demonstrations erupted after the murder of another Black teen, 18-year-old Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. A police officer shot and killed Brown, after stopping him...

The U.S. Supreme Court is the country’s primary defender of the constitution. The court’s nine justices decide legal disputes according to how they interpret the Constitution, which was written more than 200 years ago. The Judiciary Act of 1789, passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington, established the Supreme Court as a six judge tribunal. The justices had lifetime appointments. Today the court has nine justices, and they’re still appointed for life. As the final arbiter of the Constitution, the Supreme Court can adjudicate a vast array of legal disputes including those between: Congress and the President; between states; between people; between people and states; and between states and the federal government—basically any dispute that hinges on the interpretation of the Constitution.   With such wide discretion, more than seven thousand writs of certiorari—petitions for action—are submitted to the Supreme Court each year by people who believe their Constitutio...

The "New York Times" and CNN report attracted my attention because it deals with an offshoot of the Black Lives Matter protests that has nothing to do with blacks, but with another oppressed minority.  Around the 1600s Conquistadors from Spain ruled what is now New Mexico, and forced their Catholic religion on the Native Americans.  A statue of one of the Conquistadors’ leaders stands outside a history museum in Albuquerque.  Encouraged by the Black Lives Matter movement, Native Americans and their supporters staged a protest and attempted to pull down the statue.  A counter-protest group, a right-wing militia called the New Mexico Civil Guard, gathered to protect the statue.  Scuffling broke out between the two groups and then one man, who police believe was a member of the militia, began shooting.  He hit one of the anti-Conquistador protesters.  At last report, the victim was in critical condition.  The alleged shooter was arrested. The first a...