The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the U.S. Bill of Rights that "expressly prohibits the U.S. Congress from making laws...that infringe the freedom of speech" (First 1). Over time, the Supreme Court has ruled on a number of cases that have shaped free speech parameters. In Schenck v. United States (1919), Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., established the "clear and present danger" test, in which spoken words that illustrate a clear and present danger "to bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent" are not protected by the First Amendment (First 2). Because of the threat of Communism during the Cold War, in 1940 Congress passed the Smith Act, which "made punishable the advocacy of the propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the U.S. by force and violence" (First 2). During the Vietnam War, the Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) that "schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism...Students...are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect" (First 3). While the comments made by University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill may have been insensitive too many Americans and vilely offensive to others, his speech regarding the motives of terrorists responsible for 9/11 are fully protected by the free speech protections of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In a 2001 speech made in the wake of the terrorists attacks of 9/11, Professor Churchill maintained the actions of the terrorists represents America's "chickens coming home to roost," and that the deaths of the "little Eichmann's" who worked in the Twin Towers was a "penalty befitting their participation in...the 'mighty engine of profit' to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved" (Reid C01). In this sense, Churchill was arguing his opinion that the terrorists who attacked o...