Civil Liberties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Civil Liberties - Essay Example He was instructed by Supreme Court to put down his website after being convicted of murdering police officials (Salakhan n.p). Such measure was taken to ensure that opinions of judiciary were not influenced by external factors and remained bias-free. However, restricting free flow of information and only making limited facts available results in ineffective decisions. Depriving Al-Amin from his right of speech also gives rise to a probability that a general American is susceptible to abuse of power by authorities. It also raises a question if having different opinions (even unethical ones) makes infringement of freedom of speech legitimate. United States Courts have been visibly clear about what a free speech means. According to their version, freedom of speech includes not to speak, usage of black armbands by students, use of offensive words and phrases to convey political messages, contribution of money for political campaigns, advertising commercials products and to engage in symb olic speech. On the other hand, inciting actions that would harm others, making and distribution of obscene material would not be included in freedom of speech (â€Å"What Does Free Speech† n.p). ... The argument is constructed on a premise that Al-Amin’s speech was for political motives and collection of financial resources; and a dissemination of print material to general public via web. If the court considers use of web by Al-Amin to disseminate offensive material, their jurisdiction may appear valid under the laws governing censorship of web which is a restriction on availability of information that government considers to inappropriate (â€Å"Freedom Online† n.p). However, socialists perceive such restriction as an infringement of civil liberties. It is important to note that such restrictions would only reflect doctrines of those in power, having an impact on civil liberties. Furthermore, an imposition of authority results in lesser expression of one’s thoughts. Observing definition of permissible speech and its corroboration with criticism on censorship on web, it can be seen that Supreme Court’s decision of depriving Jamil Al-Amin of expressing his opinion was an infringement of basic civil liberties. A critical analysis of these theoretical concepts indicates that infringement of civil liberty of a single citizen can be extended and replicated on others’ case as well. In Jamil’s case, the Supreme Court deprived him of expressing his opinion and also gathering funds for his cause which is also a classification of freedom of speech under Supreme Court’s definition (â€Å"What Does Free Speech† n.p). The first amendment itself celebrates difference of opinion and considers it a right of every American to express themselves while restricting Congress to cause any infringement. Such interference gives an undue dominance to state