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Bill of Rights Day 2009
On Dec. 15, the Lower Hudson Valley Chapter celebrated the 218th Anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights with an event at St. Paul’s Church, a National Historic Site in Mount Vernon and a shrine to freedom of the press.
The church stands at the edge of what was then the Eastchester Village Green, where a local election was held in 1733. A newspaper editor named John Peter Zenger criticized that election, particularly the manner in which village leaders arranged to have their preferred candidates win. In response to his criticism, Zenger was arrested, jailed and tried for seditious libel. His trial and acquittal by jury formed a cornerstone for the rights embodied in the First Amendment.
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2009 Bill of Rights Day Essay Contest
The Lower Hudson Valley Chapter held its annual Bill of Rights Essay Contest. This year’s essay topic asked students to explore whether a public school can discipline students for ideas expressed in off-campus publications. Students were asked to react to and analyze the constitutional implications of a case in which a high school student, writing in a personal newsletter distributed via e-mail at home, criticizes her school’s principal and is suspended as a result.
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