Freedom Of Speech: Griswold V. Supreme Court

"“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or 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 grievance”. So are the exact words of the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. Clearly, all Americans, even back in the 1700s, believed in basic human rights and protections of speech. Now, understandably, times have changed. When the founders mentioned freedom of speech, they were thinking more along the lines of the press and of a soapbox on a sidewalk. Now, freedom of speech has evolved from the soapbox to the keyboard. The internet connects America not only to other Americans,

As is stated in the ninth amendment in the Bill of Rights. In essence, this states that the reserved rights of the people not specifically stated in the written constitution shall be protected. The question is what those ‘reserved rights’ are. Look forward a couple of decades to 1965 Supreme Court Case Griswold v. Connecticut where the Supreme Court on a 7 - 2 decision to defend Griswold and her right to provide contraceptives to married couples under the right to privacy as a reserved right of the people not specified in the constitution. Privacy, as deemed by the Supreme Court, is a reserved right of the people and should be protected from the government on state, and by extension, all levels. Since then, privacy has been a difficult topic in America and has been especially prevalent in the topic of the internet and the privacies that can and can not be invaded by the government there. The real question described by the conflict is: why should the right to individual privacy change just because of the platform of communication utilized is different? Why is a basic right of humanity protected in some cases, but not all when it is defined as a basic

Much like anything, moderation is the key. The spoken or written word can be a very powerful thing. Words can build strong walls and found countries just as well as it can rip them apart and harm millions of lives. Speech and the freedom of it has evolved over time as humans and technologies and communications have evolved. With great power comes great responsibility as the saying goes and sometimes a force of structure is needed to help with the responsibility. “We the people of the United States in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”. The role of the government as established has been to run the country by the people and for the people and their best interests and general welfare. The government does have a place in the new world of the internet, but that place is only to protect the people using it and never to obscure their freedoms and individuality. In that sense, they must monitor the internet with the sole purpose of protecting the people by punishing speakers of hate and terror, but should never take actions that would infringe upon the people’s freedom of