If Americans were invoking the spirit of the First Amendment rather than appealing to a misunderstanding of its limits, then why not appeal to other precedents?

If Americans were invoking the spirit of the First Amendment rather than appealing to a misunderstanding of its limits, then why not appeal to other precedents? By your logic folks should be invoking William and Mary's Bill of Rights rather than its American successor. > I think many Americans understand this very well, and thus resorting to narrow legalistic view of the issue misunderstands their position. You're being disingenuous here or at the very least you put way too much faith in the average American's knowledge of basic civics / their own government. I've had to point out that the First Amendment doesn't apply to private employment numerous times in the past (i.e., this is not my first comment) in situations where the other commenter literally did not understand the Constitution and the basic history surrounding it. The demographic reading Hacker News is not at all indicative of the U.S. population at large and usually consists of college-educated, middle class knowledge workers. [edit] Clearly the original parent does understand the First Amendment.