In the July 1, 2026, publication of Teche News, the Editorials & Opinion section featured a summary of the Bill of Rights. I appreciate the patriotic gesture, especially as we approached the 250th anniversary of our founding fathers’ act of high treason, and I thought the summary was largely accurate and helpful for reminding the public of what most of us have not learned since high school, at best. There was one glaring difference between the summary and the original text that I believed important enough to offer this correction.
The First Amendment to the Constitution provides for five distinct but interrelated rights. Here is the text for reference: “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.” And here is the summary published by Teche News: “First Amendment: Guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition.” The summary apparently combines the freedoms of speech and press into the freedom of “expression.”
While case law has been gradually introducing freedom of expression to protect symbolic non-verbal forms of speech, the Constitution does not expressly guarantee freedom of expression. From my own experience and education in mass media, I know that every word costs money and efficiency is encouraged. However, the extra ink and space needed to write out “... speech, press...” instead of “...expression...” when educating the public of Saint Martin Parish about our constitutional guarantees is well worth the additional three characters. Afterall, there is still a massive gap between those who can name main characters of popular TV shows and those who can list the five rights of the First Amendment.
I invite the Teche News readers to take a few minutes to look up the original text of the Bill of Rights and spend some time afterward considering each phrase, researching what events inspired each amendment, pondering the connections and distinctions between them, and studying how they have been applied in case law since they were ratified December 15, 1791. Perhaps in fifteen years Teche News may celebrate the 250th anniversary of their ratification by printing the entire text of the first ten amendments, especially since it is so particularly protected by the First.
Jared P. L. Normand Saint Martinville, LA
