This document outlines a project to apply empirical methods and data visualization techniques to analyze trends in First Amendment case law decided by the Supreme Court. The goals are to provide a visual history of key First Amendment cases and assess how related freedoms have been impacted over time. Data will be collected from various sources and analyzed to reveal patterns in voting alignments, tests used in rulings, and how judicial interpretations may have changed. The results will be presented through an interactive graphic interface and published in a research study.

1. Visualizing the First Amendment
Debbie Rabina & Chris Sula
Pratt SILS, ASIST Speakeasy series
April 8, 2013

2. • “Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an
Establishment of Religion, or Prohibiting the Free
Exercise Thereof; or Abridging the Freedom of
Speech, or of the Press; or the Right of the People
Peaceably to Assemble, and To Petition the
Government for a Redress of Grievances.”

3. First Amendment scholarship
• One of the most studied area of constitutional
law
• Legal studies are traditionally based on
detailed qualitative analysis of legislation and
case law

4. Our project
• Applies empirical methods and visualization
techniques to gain new insights of trends and
patterns regarding 1st Amd. ruling by the
Supreme Court
• Project goals
– Provide a visual history of the First Amendment
– Assess the impact of these events on the
freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

5. Questions
• Once done, we will be able to answer
question like:
– Which of the 1st Amd. rights were addressed in a
particular case
– How did a particular Justice vote
– What was the ‘test” (justification) for the ruling

6. Patterns
• With the hope of being able to reveal patterns
such as:
• Do judges vote along party lines
• Do Justices change their views over time

7. Phases
•
•
•
•
Collecting and analyzing data
conducting analysis
presenting results in a visual graphic interface
publishing research study

8. Data collection
• Case law from the First Amendment Center
timeline
• Identify variables:
– Right asserted/denied
– Votes by court
– Writer of majority/minority opinions
– Chief Justice/nominating president
– Legal provision
– Number of subsequent citation the case received

9. Data sources
• First Amendment Center timeline
– 103 cases with narrative descriptions
• Supreme Court Database
– maintained by Washington University, St. Louis
– 8,407 cases coded with nearly 40 variables
– 655 classified as First Amendment cases
• Supreme Court Citation Network Data
– James H. Fowler (UCSD) and Sangick Jeon (Stanford)
– 202,167 citations to/from majority opinions

10. Data sources coverage
First Amendment Center
Timeline
Supreme Court
Database
Supreme Court Citation Network Data
1754
1800
1900
1946
2000