GA Bar Constitutional Rights and Liberties 2

Question 1

A city ordinance prohibits all leafleting on public sidewalks to keep streets clean. Under First Amendment analysis, this regulation is most likely:

Accepted Answer

Unconstitutional as a content-neutral regulation that is not narrowly tailored and leaves no alternative channels

Answer

A total ban on leafleting in a traditional public forum fails even content-neutral time/place/manner scrutiny because it leaves open no adequate alternative channels of communication.

Question 2

Under the O'Brien test, a law that incidentally burdens symbolic speech is constitutional only if it:

Accepted Answer

Is within the constitutional power of the government, advances an important interest unrelated to suppressing expression, and the incidental burden is no greater than essential

Answer

United States v. O'Brien (1968) established a four-part test requiring the law to be within government power, further an important non-speech interest, and restrict speech no more than necessary.

Question 3

The government seeks to enjoin a newspaper from publishing classified documents claiming national security harm. The strongest First Amendment doctrine protecting the newspaper is:

Accepted Answer

The prohibition on prior restraints

Answer

Prior restraints on publication carry a heavy presumption against constitutional validity, as reaffirmed in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971).

Question 4

Under the Miller v. California test, material is legally obscene only if all three prongs are met. Which of the following is NOT one of those prongs?

Accepted Answer

The work was produced with intent to arouse sexual desire in the viewer

Answer

Miller's three prongs focus on community standards for prurient appeal and patent offensiveness, plus the objective SLAPS test — producer intent is not an element.

Question 5

A state applies strict scrutiny to a content-based restriction on speech in a traditional public forum. To survive, the government must show the restriction is:

Accepted Answer

Narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest

Answer

Content-based restrictions in any forum trigger strict scrutiny, requiring the law to be narrowly tailored to a compelling governmental interest.

(GA Bar) Georgia Bar Exam Practice Test

(GA Bar) Georgia Bar Exam Practice Test

GA Bar Constitutional Rights and Liberties 2