J. KARL MILLER: Is the First Amendment absolute?

"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances" reads the First Amendment to the Constitution. Are those provisions inviolate and set in stone, or may they be abridged judiciously in those rare instances where good judgment and restraint must trump literal interpretation?