Cali Steverson, a journalism student at East Mississippi Community College, is the only on-air personality in America who hosts a radio broadcast of a Top 10 countdown of today’s hottest hits every two hours. In the journalism classes via Zoom, the students and I have been studying and writing about theories and approaches to understanding First Amendment protection. Cali and I teamed up on Gitlow vs. New York (1925) as an approach that has been used to apply the First’s protection. Benjamin Gitlow distributed a left-wing manifesto that urged the establishment of socialism by strikes and class action in any forms. Spartacus Educational points out that the Elizabethport, N.J., native was reared in a home filled with stories of Russia’s socialist movement. He was convicted in the courts for violating New York’s criminal anarchy statute. His attorneys argued that the First applied to state law of the due process clause of the 14th. The court, while agreeing with the innovative 14th Amendment argument, upheld the conviction anyhow, asserting that he presented a degree of danger to the state which even the First could not excuse. 1. upheld (up-HELD) A. to keep or defend a principle of law B. to say that a decision that has already been made, especially a legal one, is correct C. to support D. defended 2. sustaining (suh-STAIN-ing) A. falsifying B. vilifying C. defending, safeguarding D. practicing protocol The 7-2 vote for sustaining the conviction of Gitlow is a landmark decision not because his conviction was upheld, but for the first time the court ruled that the First was binding upon the states as well as upon the federal government. No. 2 is C. All four are correct for No. 1. 3. propensity (pro-PEN-suh-tee) A. unprotected speech B. an illegal move C. a natural inclination D. a mistrial E. incontrovertible evidence 4. The decision was the first in which the Supreme Court held that the 14th Amendment’s ____ requires state and federal governments to be held to the same standards in regulating speech. A. manifesto protection clause B. due process clause C. Gitlow principle D. prior restraint clause E. double-standard defiance clause In his trial, Gitlow argued that the statute penalized utterances that did not have a propensity to incite specific action; no action had come because of Gitlow’s publication. No. 3 is C. No. 4 is B. Editor's Note: Dr. Don Rodney Vaughan is the pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church near Eupora and is on the faculty of East Mississippi Community College, Golden Triangle Campus. Contact him at dvaughan@eastms.edu.
