First Amendment, Voting, and Privacy

This unit examines core individual rights under the Constitution with an emphasis on the First Amendment (speech and religion), civic participation through voting and candidate support, and implied privacy protections. Building on foundational constitutional principles from earlier units, students will apply legal tests and landmark precedents to realistic scenarios to prepare for later study of constitutional litigation and rights enforcement in public safety contexts.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze First Amendment speech doctrine by applying landmark case precedents and legal tests to determine when expression is protected, restricted, or subject to government regulation
• Evaluate Establishment and Free Exercise Clause issues using constitutional tests (e.g., Lemon, endorsement, coercion) and apply those tests to real-world and school-based scenarios
• Apply civic procedures and legal constraints related to voting and candidate participation, demonstrating the steps for voter registration, ethical campaign support, and compliance with election laws
• Analyze implied and fundamental privacy rights by distinguishing expectation-of-privacy standards, evaluating government searches and digital surveillance scenarios, and applying balancing tests used in court decisions