Was The Dixie Chicks Statement Protected By The First Amendment?

1. In 2003 at their London concert, the Dixie Chicks, a popular country band at the time, had stated that they were “ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” after the President during that time, Bush, had invaded Iraq. As a result, many believed that their actions were inappropriate or as far as treasonous. The result was that the majority of country music radio stations were not playing songs by the Dixie Chicks which some argue is censorship. This censorship hurt them financially until later on when the public opinion over the Bush Administration and the War in Iraq had turned negative. This brings into thought a question: were the Dixie Chicks statement protected by the First Amendment? Many philosophers of free speech

The history of the development of seditious speech begins in the late eighteenth century from fear that revolution from France would spread, and in response to it, the Sedition Act of 1789 (along with Alien Act) was passed. These laws made it illegal to oppose the government openly which would result in imprisonment and/or a fine. The bill did eventually expire in 1801 after disputes in the government in regards to it violations of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution in respects to freedom of speech. Not until the First World War would the next key federal law in regards to sedition would come to pass, the Espionage Act of 1917. The Espionage Act made it a federal crime to support the enemy of or incite conflict against the United States government. It also made it illegal to try to “[obstruct the] production in support of war efforts.” In addition to avoid internal conflicts during war time, the bill was passed as a response of fear to the rise of communism overseas. A U.S. Supreme Court case, Schenck v. United States, which concluded with the Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. stating that the actions of Schenck, who was passing anti-draft pamphlets to young men, that his actions would intend the crime of sedition and created a “clear and present danger.” This also led to the standard of the bad tendency test in which the inclination of the speech was to promote an illegal action. In 1951 shortly after the World War II, several Communists were tried by the United State Supreme Court. In Dennis v. United States, the defendants were found guilty because their speech was not protected by the First Amendment because it involved the creation of a conspiracy to topple the United States government. It was not until 1957 in Yates v. United States which was ruled by the Supreme Court of the United States that speech which was deemed “revolutionary” or rebellious against the government as protected by the first Amendment as long as it did not pose a