The First Amendment of the United States was approved, along with nine other amendments to the Constitution of the United States making up the Bill of Rights, on December 15, 1791. Regarding Freedom of Speech the First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” Freedom of speech is the foundation of the other 1st Amendment freedoms which are the freedom of the press, religion, assembly, and petition. Without it the other freedoms could not exist. The purpose of free speech is to obtain the truth, it allows people to speak freely and without the fear of oppression and grievance. The freedom of speech enables the protection of the minority viewpoint from being overcome by the majority, or by the government. …show more content…
To help clarify what is and what isn’t free speech Congress has even implemented certain tests that must be met for the speech to be determined illegal. The right of free speech can intrude on other rights, examples being obscenity, child pornography, “fighting words”, profane/vulgar language and true threats of violence.
The First Amendment does not protect obscenity, people do not have the complete freedom of speech when it comes to obscene materials. Obscenity is broad term and is depicted as obscene matter under California Penal Code 311. Under California Penal Code 311 obscene matter is “matter, taken, that to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to the prurient interest, that, taken, depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and that, taken, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” (CA PC 311) “Matter” means any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed or written material, or any picture, drawing, photograph, motion picture, or other pictorial representation, or any statue or other figure, or any recording, transcription, or