[OldDeckHand]

"Now, as written, it prohibits CONGRESS from certain actions. To apply this against the states would have no effect unless that state had a ‘Congress;’ unless you changed the word ‘congress’ to mean ‘legislature.’"

Oh good grief. The First Amendment was, by virtue of the 14th Amendment, fully incorporated into the states in a series of Supreme Court case throughout the 20th century.

[James C. Bennett]

Thanks. I was waiting for that, actually.

[OneWingedShark]

>Oh good grief. The First Amendment was, by virtue of the 14th Amendment, fully incorporated into the states in a series of Supreme Court case throughout the 20th century.

Um, that’s why I said “as written.”
And to I even tangentially addresses ‘incorporation,’ to make the First Amendment effective against all the states the word “Congress” must be re-interpreted as ‘legislature.’

I do not believe that sort of re-interpretation to be good law.
Our Constitution is fully changeable, via amendment, to address any shortcoming; the 14th Amendment CANNOT, without explicitly saying so, alter the meaning [or validity] of the other amendments; allowing ‘incorporation’ to do so implicitly is, in my view, incorrect.