Freedom of Assembly

The First Amendment says "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Freedom of Assembly grants the right for people to peacefully petition anything they please, even the government. This freedom is closely related to the Freedom of Speech, without that, they would not be able to say what they wanted to, but they would not be able to assemble to say what they wanted without the Freedom of Assembly. Also, without the right to assemble, there would be no political parties or groups to influence the government.

One of the first major decisions on the Freedom of Assembly was that under the First Amendment, "peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime." This arose in 1937 when a man, Dirk DeJonge, was convicted because he held a meeting sponsored by the communist party. He said he was innocent because he didn't speak of or do anything criminal, only speak of matters of public concern. The Court unanimously turned his conviction, and decided that the right of assembly is as important as free speech.

It is very hurtful what can be done with these freedoms, they can cause emotional distress to many. In 1977 the American Nazi party went to a small town full of Holocaust survivors, they marched there to get their points across, the residents were furious. They demanded that the marchers be made to stop, so the town told them they had to pay a $300,000 parade permit to march there. But they said that having to pay for that would be violating their right to free speech and assembly. The Court ruled that it would be unconstitutional to stop them.

Picketing is a form of assembly besides sit ins, speeches, or marches, it is also a form that has been debated on for years. Picketing is when people get together in a line, called a picket line, in front of an organization or business to persuade people not to go there. Most people won't pass a picket line, which then deprives the business of the customers it needs. It was ruled in 1950, that you could not picket to force people to do something, only to influence them, and that you couldn't picket a business unless it was a labor dispute.

Freedom of Assembly is very important, and many dont realize how useful it is. But many people also use it for bad reasons, in the end it is all part of the freedoms placed on us by our forefathers to do with as we see fit.