<P> In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the Court drew on Thomas Jefferson's correspondence to call for "a wall of separation between church and State", though the precise boundary of this separation remains in dispute . Speech rights were expanded significantly in a series of 20th - and 21st - century court decisions that protected various forms of political speech, anonymous speech, campaign financing, pornography, and school speech; these rulings also defined a series of exceptions to First Amendment protections . The Supreme Court overturned English common law precedent to increase the burden of proof for libel suits, most notably in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964). Commercial speech is less protected by the First Amendment than political speech, and is therefore subject to greater regulation . </P> <P> The Free Press Clause protects publication of information and opinions, and applies to a wide variety of media . In Near v. Minnesota (1931) and New York Times v. United States (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected against prior restraint--pre-publication censorship--in almost all cases . The Petition Clause protects the right to petition all branches and agencies of government for action . In addition to the right of assembly guaranteed by this clause, the Court has also ruled that the amendment implicitly protects freedom of association . </P> <P> A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed . </P> <P> The Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms . The concept of such a right existed within English common law long before the enactment of the Bill of Rights . First codified in the English Bill of Rights of 1689 (but there only applying to Protestants), this right was enshrined in fundamental laws of several American states during the Revolutionary era, including the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 . Long a controversial issue in American political, legal, and social discourse, the Second Amendment has been at the heart of several Supreme Court decisions . </P>

Where did we get the bill of rights