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The First Amendment to the United States Constitution preserves our rights to many freedoms. One of the most controversial, and perhaps the most important of these, is the freedom of speech.

Recently, an Oklahoma high school banned To Kill a Mockingbird from its freshman reading list because faculty members were afraid that the racist language used in the novel might offend students. According to principal Terry Saul, "It’s a great book, but we didn’t want to put any kids in an uncomfortable situation."

Of course, books are not the only subject of controvery these days. Now that any type of content is just a click away on the Internet, new freedom of speech issues have arisen. Several months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision made by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that barred public employees in Virginia from accessing sexually explicit materials on the Internet with state computers. If a person is not required to look up sexually explicit material on the job (ie: a lawyer who needs to conduct research for a child pornography case), should they be accessing this type of content at work? In the state of Virginia, the answer to that question is now "No." Since the Supreme Court did not take on the case, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court's decision became final.

Do you support freedom of speech on the Internet? Do you support the recent banning of To Kill a Mockingbird? Is the freedom of speech outlined in the First Amendment an absolute freedom, or does it carry with it some inherent limits? Is there ever a place for censorship in this country?