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 grievances.
Subject: Congress
Verb Phrase: shall make no
Direct Object: law
Adjective Clauses:
* respecting an establishment of religion
* prohibiting the free exercises thereof
* abridging the freedom of speech
* of the press;
* the right of the people to peaceably assemble
* to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
Conjunctions: or; and
Exercise 1
By use of conjunctions and adjective clauses, there are actually six sentences contained within the above single sentence. Can you find them?
(a) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
(b) Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
(c) Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.
(d) Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press.
(e) Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people to peaceably assemble.
(f) Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Exercise 2
Answer the following essay questions:
(1) The Government takes money from taxpayers, some of whom are Christians, and gives the money to Andrew Serrano, for making a painting called "Piss Christ," which blasphemes the Christian God. Does Government-funded blasphemy violate any of (a) through (f) above, and if so, which one? Support your answer.
(2) The United States of America is currently under attack by a variety of loosely connected but extremely dangerous, cvilian-killing adherents to one or two versions of the Muslim religion that consider non-Muslims as sub-humans deserving of death. Is the USA justified in funding and distributing a series of movies, paintings, sculptures, etc. that downplay or deride the civilian-killers' interpretation of the Muslim religion? Base your response on the 1st Amendment to the Bill of Rights and on your reasoning in Essay Question 1.
Exercise 3
Which of (a) through (f) above are violated by the following Congressional Acts? Answer (g) if you think no violation occurs.
(1) The Patriot Act
(2) The Campaign Finance Reform Act
(3) The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (modified by the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act)
Exercise 4
What do you think are the odds of invoking (f) above?
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