The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therefore; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." From this, we get our six clauses of freedom: from religion, of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. Saying this, the first amendment does not allow people to get away with everything they say and there are three bedrock principles in place to govern this. They are that the first amendment is not absolute, it is not a shield against laws of general applicability, and that freedom of the press is a "fundamental personal right," not an institutional one.
The first amendment condones expressive action/conduct which is a nonverbal way of getting a message across. That includes peaceful protests, the burning of the American flag, and other statements like parades and marches. On the contrary, the first amendment does not condone speech that makes threats, hints at violence, or urges people to take action in a violent way; This is known as incitement. In order for speech to be considered incitement it must be proven that the speech causes imminent lawless action and that the lawless action is likely to occur.
On January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump called on his supporters during a "March to Save America" rally to go the U.S. Capitol building and to voice their displeasure and anger amid what he claimed to be a stolen election. While this march from Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol was mostly peaceful, there were still hundreds of Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol building, forcing several important members of our government to be evacuated, several injuries, stolen items from the building, vandalizing, and arrests shortly followed.
As a result, Trump faced impeachment, accused of encouraging the riot and incitement. The problem is that incitement is one of the most difficult things to prove. That is why, guilty or not, Trump has been acquitted from impeachment twice. There was nothing Trump said that could be proven to have caused the storming of the Capitol building. In fact, in his speech, Trump said that his supporters should march to the Capitol building "peacefully and patriotically." In a New York Post article from early February which summarizes a 14-page response to the impeachment, Trump's lawyers write that, "Like all Americans, the 45th President is protected by the first amendment. Indeed, he believes, and therefore avers, that the United States is unique on Earth in that its governing documents, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, specifically and intentionally protect unpopular speech from government retaliation".
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