Monday, October 1 biased case study

The week in pictures from the BBC

September 22-28

Members of the British Druid Order take part in a ceremony to celebrate the autumn equinox, on London's Primrose Hill.HENRY NICHOLLS/ REUTERS

 A statue of Hindu god Lord Ganesh is carried to the edge of the Arabian Sea before being immersed in the water as part of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India.
DIVYAKANT SOLANKI/ EPA

Seven-year-old Tristan Robertson-Eyes plays with pink slime which is tipped to be a popular gift for children this Christmas.  PETER NICHOLLS/ REUTERS

In Los Angeles, actor and drag queen Willam Belli arrives at the premiere of A Star Is Born, a new romantic drama starring Lady Gaga.   NINA PROMMER/ EPA

Orphaned students carry bags they received from a local charity organisation on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen.
KHALED ABDULLAH/ REUTERS

 A child sleeps on board the rescue ship Aquarius in the search and rescue zone off the coast of Libya.
MAUD VEITH/ AFP

 Jed Lowrie of the Oakland Athletics celebrates after winning their baseball match in Seattle, Washington, against the Seattle Mariners.ABBIE PARR/ GETTY IMAGES

 A White House aide pours a Diet Coke for US President Donald Trump before the start of a lunch for world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.   CARLOS BARRIA/ REUTERS

A model walks down the catwalk during Paris Fashion Week. The presentation of the women's collections runs from 24 September to 2 October.ETIENNE LAURENT/ EPA

A performer and her cat practise ahead of their show at the Belarus State Circus in Minsk. Artists from nine countries will take part in the show.  TATYANA ZENKOVICH/ EPA

****************************************************************

In assigned groups, you will present one of the following cases to your classmates, basing your ruling on the First Amendment.  If you are absent, please select one of the following and write a 100 word response that is 

supported by the First Amendment.

    You will have 10 minutes to prepare. Each person in the group should contribute. Base your case on the First Amendment information. Be as specific as possible.  (class participation grade)

1 .A well-known and controversial big-city lawyer was successful in having sexual assault charges dropped against two school basketball players. The lawyer had argued that the victim had consented to the sexual encounter with the players. The newspaper wants to run an editorial condemning the court’s decision, saying that the players’ acts should not have been so easily excused. The editorial details some of the lawyer’s courtroom argument casting responsibility on the woman, a position that the editors find deplorable. They plan to call the lawyer “a scumbag” in the editorial. If this editorial is printed, who would win the ensuing court case – the newspaper or the lawyer?

2.Students plan to wear special placards in protest of a recent controversial school policy that outlaws any religious ornament within the school. The school suspends the students who wear the placards. The students sue in response. Who wins?

3.A paper for a public high school wants to run a feature story on the average salaries of public officials in the area. The reporter asks the treasurer of the school district for information regarding the salaries of the teachers in the district. The treasurer refuses, saying that it is not appropriate for high school students to know the salaries of their teachers. The students sue for the records. Who wins?

4. A student newspaper wants to run an article on drug use in the athletes in the school. To gather details, the journalist hides a tape recorder in her pocket and goes into the female locker room to gather information without the athletes knowing she is there to gather information. She uses quotes and information in the article that she gathered from the locker room. An investigation follows and the student athletes are suspended for drug use. The athletes sue the paper. Who wins?

5. A student magazine regularly published the satirical work of a popular student cartoonist. In one issue, the cartoonist took on the topic of youth pregnancy. To do so, he used characters from a popular national comic strip involving a group of children, duplicating them detail by detail but with one notable difference. In his cartoon, a girl character was pregnant, one of the boys was the father and their pet was the local abortionist. The author of the cartoon strip sued. Who wins?