The First Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that “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.”[1] Right to assembly was conceived more than 200 years ago, before the Bill of Rights, the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress in 1774. Specifically, people’s right to peaceably assemble was granted in 1776 under Pennsylvania’s declaration, which was the first state to guarantee and recognize this right. The House and Senate amended the US Constitution in 1789, agreeing to the proposed amendments. They were submitted to states for ratification. Even with more than 200 years, the right to assembly is still crucial to our modern society.
Although the right for people to peaceable assemble was perceived less important in the past than the right to petition the government, the courts’ interpretation of the First Amendment proves that the right to assembly has significant benefits to modern society. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that people have the right to conduct peaceful public assembly, and it is protected under the First Amendment.[2] It allows people to assemble, even though the right is not absolute. It restricts government officials from enacting laws that prohibit public assembly. The right to assemble is crucial for the modern US society since it grants every citizen the freedom to freely associate with others and have a voice in the public sphere under a shared value and common cause.
The right to assemble is important in modern society because it provides legal and cultural protection for unorthodox and dissenting groups. Most labor activists, religious organizations, Democratic/Republican Societies, civil rights groups, suffragists, and abolitionists have invoked the First Amendment right to assemble when protesting against various prevailing norms. In De Jonge v Oregon, the Supreme Court extended the scope of the right to assemble beyond the federal government.[3] The Court recognized that “the right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental.”[4] It applied the right of assembly under the First Amendment to the states, mainly through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
The right to assemble enhance the freedom of speech since it restricts the government from prosecuting people because of conducting demonstrations. According to the Supreme Court in Edwards v South Carolina, the state law was voided, and 180 black students’ convictions for breach of peace overturned.[5] Under the First Amendment’s right to assemble, the Court argued that the students were conducting a peaceful protest against discrimination. Since the state law penalized students’ right to assemble peaceably and exercise free speech, it was unconstitutional, and their disorderly did not cancel or stop peaceful demonstration and right of peaceable assembly.[6] Therefore, the right to assemble is crucial in modern society because it ensures states or federal governments’ officials do not violate people right to free speech. In other words, it supports freedom of speech.
The right to conduct peaceable assembly grants United States citizens opportunities to participate in the country’s political life and electoral process in modern society. Whether states or federal government employees, private businesses employees, or people working for nonprofit organizations, the right of assembly give citizens chances to be heard. For instance, an extraordinary demonstration of the right to peaceably assemble happened in April 2017 in Washington.[7] In their protest, thousands of scientists and supporters assembled under rainy skies, demonstrating against the Trump administration’s threats of policies. In what they referred to as the “March for Science,” scientists abandoned their tradition of keeping science out of politics and called for public support.[8]
[1] Amendment 1 Religious and political freedom., USCS Const. Amend. 1.
[2] Jason Mazzone, Freedom’s Associations, 77 Wash. L. Rev. 639 (2002).
[3] De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353 (1937).
[4] Id.
[5] Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229 (1963).
[6] Id.
[7] St. Fleur, Nicholas, Scientists, Feeling Under Siege, March Against Trump Policies, The New York Times. (2017), Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/science/march-for-science.html accessed on 16 October 2020.
[8] Id.