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Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:38PM (#12719790)
I think you are indeed missing the point. Of course you can invoke a constitutional right as grounds for breaking a law. If Constitutional rights didn't trump laws they wouldn't be good for much of anything, would they? That is literally their entire purpose: To be invoked as justification for violating unconstitutional law.

The salient question is whether this is a matter of restraint on speech or simply a matter of prosecuting her behavior independent of any related speech. There's a much longer discussion (or court case) to be had on this point.

But as to the question of whether you can invoke a constitutional right to justify breaking the law? Absolutely, no question about it. Yes.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by GunboatDiplomat on Sunday October 16, 2016 @02:03PM (#12719947)
Uh... no you can't. The first amendment does not protect you from trespassing charges. The second doesn't protect you from bringing a gun into a court room. And so on.
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @05:01PM (#12720925)
The first amendment absolutely can protect from a charge of trespassing, or from any other charge. We don't know if it will in this particular scenario, but speaking categorically? Yes, it can absolutely.

A recent high profile example of trespass law clashing with the first amendment would be free speech zones.

The Constitution constrains the construction and application of all laws. Every single one.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by thyrsus on Sunday October 16, 2016 @08:00PM (#12721809)
A quick search for "free speech zone court case" only found cases effectively upholding trespass law over free speech. To what court case or law are you referring?
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:50AM (#12722760)
Some starting points here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone#Notable_incid...

First amendment entanglements with trespass generally occur on public land where some local authority has prohibited some sort of activity involving speech. There usually aren't first amendment issues to be raised with trespass of private property, as rights are relevant with respect to government authority.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by GunboatDiplomat on Sunday October 16, 2016 @06:34PM (#12721425)
No, it cannot. Trespass is illegal. Trespassing because you want to speak on the property is still illegal.
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by BurningFrog on Sunday October 16, 2016 @02:31PM (#12720118)
You can invoke a constitutional right to claim a law is unconstitutional. If the courts agree, the law is effectively nullified.

For individuals breaking constitutional laws, this is irrelevant.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @04:56PM (#12720897)
Laws themselves aren't inherently Constitutional. It's their application vis a vis a particular scenario which must withstand scrutiny.

In this case, the question is whether a charge of "rioting" or "trespassing" or whichever charge is currently in play withstands this scrutiny. Generally, application of these laws pass Constitutional muster. On occasion, they do not.