first-amendment
What does &#39;a kind of private charter&#39; signify, for the 1st Amendment (US Constitution)?
<p>Original: Dworkin. <em>A Matter of Principle</em>. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=LahVSmS26YEC&amp;lpg=PA385&amp;ots=WqZF1wTeed&amp;dq=%22a%20kind%20of%20private%20charter%22&amp;pg=PA385#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">p. 385 Top</a>.<br>
First Sighted: <em>Legal Writing in Plain English</em> (2nd edn, 2013). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PN_8vUWwXp0C&amp;lpg=PA70&amp;ots=dM4QMkEWMn&amp;dq=%22a%20kind%20of%20private%20charter%22&amp;pg=PA70#v=onepage&amp;q=%22a%20kind%20of%20private%20charter%22&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">p. 85 Top</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>  But there is not much attempt at analysis of the philosophical grounds of 
  free speech or freedom of the press, or much effort to find the limits of the 
  freedoms and powers Hentoff wants to defend. In this respect he is typical 
  of journalists who complain about the fate of the First Amendment in the 
  courts, though he writes better and with more enthusiasm and knowledge 
  than most. The press takes the Amendment as a kind of <strong>private charter [bold mine]</strong>, and 
  attacks more or less automatically every refusal of the courts to find some 
  further protection in that charter. The newspapers and networks de- 
  nounced the decisions in the <em>Farber</em> and <em>Herbert</em> cases as fiercely—indeed 
  even more fiercely—than those in the cases of <em>The Progressive</em> and <em>Snepp</em>. </p>
</blockquote>

<ol>
<li>Am I correct that <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=charter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">charter</a> signifies the following?</li>
</ol>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/charter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A written grant by the sovereign or legislative power of a country, by which a body such as a borough, company, or university is created or its rights and privileges defined.</a></p>
</blockquote>

<ol start="2">
<li>I don't understand why the press'd regard it so, when they have in-house lawyers who'd disadvise them so? </li>
</ol>

<blockquote>
  <ol>
  <li>Am I correct that charter signifies the following?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>Yes</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="2">
  <li>I don't understand why the press'd regard it so, when they have in-house lawyers who'd disadvise them so?</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>This is a literary technique: the author and the press <em>know</em> it isn't a private charter but the press <em>would like it to be one</em> and that it should be interpreted in such a way that it enables them to do what they want it to do. The press are lobbying for their interpretation - not the actual interpretation.      </p>
