As we discussed in class, the First Amendment gives us Americans the right to peaceably assemble. The keyword here, of course, is peaceably. We have the right and ability to question the government when we believe they are wrong, however, that does not mean we have the right to go out into the streets and set things on fire to show our distaste with the government. This is where the First Amendment gets tricky for many because they believe the amendment covers all types of protests, including violent. Many cases have come before the court regarding the First Amendment and peaceably assembling, today I want to talk about one specific case I stumble upon.
Tommia Dean, a student and cheerleader at Georgia university, along with four other cheerleaders, took a knee during the national anthem at a football game on September 30, 2017. After this, the girls were prohibited from appearing on the field during the national anthem at two subsequent home football games.
Dean filed a lawsuit in September 2018 against Samul S. Olens (the school's president at the time), and two men in the Kennesaw State athletic department (Sheriff Neil Warren and Earl Ehrhart). In her lawsuit, she accused the defendants of violating her First Amendment rights and specifically accused Sheriff Warren and Mr. Ehrhart of conspiring to cause these violations of her civil rights by putting pressure on the university's president to take action. Sheriff Warren and Mr. Ehrhart were dismissed from the lawsuit in February, however, an appeal of this decision to dismiss them is currently going on.
According to Dean's attorney, Bruce Brown, "The appeal is important because it calls into question when private parties can be liable under the civil rights laws of causing a public official or conspiring with a public official to violate a citizen's First Amendment rights".
This fall, Dean reached a settlement with the Georgia Department of Administrative Services and she was paid 145,000 in October
To me, this is a clear violation of Ms. Deans First Amendment Rights. What she did was an expression of opinion that maybe some may not agree with but she is protected under the constitution to express herself however way she wants (as long as it's peaceful) without fear of facing punishment.
To address the peaceable aspect of this case, it is clear that she followed the rule of "peaceably assembling" because no violence ensued from her actions and she herself participated in no violate actions. The beauty of this right granted to us is that we should not be faced with consequences when freely expressing ourselves. I'm glad to see that she was rewarded for the violation of her constitutional rights and I hope to not have to see something like this happen again.
