List of United States Supreme Court cases involving the First Amendment

This is a list of cases that appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States involving the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The establishment of religion edit

Blue laws edit

Government aid to church-related schools edit

Government-sponsored religious displays edit

Legislative prayer edit

Internal religious affairs (also involving the Free Exercise Clause) edit

Ministerial exception edit

Private religious speech edit

Religion in public schools edit

Religious institution functioning as a government agency edit

Standing to sue edit

Statutory religious exemptions edit

Unequal government treatment of different religious groups edit

Abortion and contraception edit

Other edit

The free exercise of religion edit

Exclusion of religion from public benefits edit

Polygamy edit

Free exercise and eminent domain edit

Free exercise and free speech edit

Free exercise and public education edit

Free exercise and public property edit

Internal religious affairs (also involving the Establishment Clause) edit

Ministerial exception edit

Religion and the right to work edit

Religious tests for public service or benefits edit

Ritual sacrifice of animals edit

Solicitation by religious groups edit

Statutory religious exemptions edit

Religious Freedom Restoration Act edit

Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act edit

Other edit

Freedom of speech edit

Campaign finance edit

Commercial speech edit

Compelled speech edit

Compelled commercial speech edit

Compelled subsidy for speech of others edit

Cases that consider the First Amendment implications of payments mandated by the state going to use in part for speech by third parties

Loyalty oaths and affirmations edit

Content-based edit

Content-neutral edit

Sedition and imminent danger edit

False speech edit

Fighting words and the heckler's veto edit

Freedom of assembly and public forums edit

Time, place and manner edit

Cases concerning restrictions on the time, place, and manner of speech

Government speech edit

Cases pertaining to whether or not extending protections to speech constitutes government endorsement of speech.

Government-subsidized speech edit

Cases about restrictions on speech by third parties funded by the government.

Obscenity edit

Generally edit

Cases concerned with the definition of obscenity and whether a particular work or type of material is obscene.

As criminal offense edit

Appeals of criminal convictions for possessing, selling or distributing obscenity that focused on that issue

Search, seizure and forfeiture edit

Cases involving the search and seizure of allegedly obscene material

Civil and administrative regulation edit

Cases dealing with civil and administrative regulatory procedures aimed at suppressing or restricting obscenity, such as film-licensing boards or zoning regulations.

Internet edit

Cases involving laws meant to restrict obscenity online

Public employees edit

Political activity and Hatch Act of 1939 edit

Public school students edit

Speech by students in public secondary schools

Retaliation by public officials edit

Cases in which it has been alleged governmental officials retaliated for protected speech made by private citizens who are not employed by said officials.

Symbolic speech edit

Freedom of the press edit

Broadcast media edit

Defamation edit

Prior restraints and censorship edit

Privacy edit

Search and seizure edit

Taxation and privileges edit

Freedom of assembly edit

Freedom of association edit

Freedom to petition edit

References edit

Further reading edit

  • The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. Kermit L. Hall, ed.
  • The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions. Kermit L. Hall, ed.
  • Alley, Robert S. (1999). The Constitution & Religion: Leading Supreme Court Cases on Church and State. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-703-1.