Are Lies and Misrepresentations Protected by the First Amendment?

They probably are -- but that does not mean that the propaganda concerned can be forced into the classroom. Teachers in an Andover (Massachusetts) High School seemed to think otherwise, however:

"The School Committee will review its policies on inviting speakers to the schools in the wake of last week's visit by the controversial pro-Palestinian group Wheels of Justice. While Principal Peter Anderson said there were no problem incidents during the day, when speakers spoke in classrooms, Anderson halted a nighttime presentation to the community after repeated outbursts during a question-and-answer session.....

While Wheels of Justice had been banned from speaking at the school last October, Anderson reversed this decision when teachers' union president Tom Meyers and five other social studies teachers threatened a First Amendment lawsuit. A presentation on the First Amendment by four attorneys was held Jan. 3. Speakers from Project David, a Boston-based group that says on its Web site that it "promotes Arab-Israeli understanding," were scheduled to offer another perspective to students, and then to the public, on Wednesday, after Townsman deadline.....

Last Friday evening, three speakers, Joe Carr, Hassan Fouda and Mazin Qumsiyeh, stood before 150 or more attendees in the packed Andover High School library..... Qumsiyeh said he's lived through the occupation of Israel, and claimed that approximately half of the Iraqi and Palestinian populations continue to live in similar conditions. He pointed to a slide of a green hillside where he said he'd picnicked as a child. "But look at it today," Qumsiyeh said, motioning towards a barren rubble....

Several people walked out when Qumsiyeh said there were hundreds of Palestinian villages destroyed by Israelis in the 1940s. Anderson reminded the audience they weren't there to debate. "If you don't want to listen, leave," he said....

During the question-and-answer period, many of the audience's outspoken members said they considered Wheels of Justice to be an extremist, anti-Semitic organization....

It's an interesting precedent, however. Maybe all Left-dominated schools could be forced to broadcast Rush Limbaugh's show in their classrooms. In that case I fancy that the First Amendment would immediately be interpreted to mean the opposite of the meaning placed on it above.

UPDATE: American Pundit has some good points about the complacent Leftist editorial above too. (Crossposted from Tongue Tied)