Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication Year
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 14 of 14
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Governments "Erasing History" And The Importance Of Free Speech, Noah C. Chauvin
Governments "Erasing History" And The Importance Of Free Speech, Noah C. Chauvin
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Nationwide protests against police brutality and structural racism have led to a renewed push for governments to take down or alter Confederate monuments and symbols. Advocates for these changes argue that they will make our public spaces more just and welcoming to all people. Not everyone agrees. Some defenders of the monuments and symbols accuse pro-removal protestors and the governments who acquiesce to their demands as conspiring to "erase history." In this essay, I argue that those who oppose removing the monuments should come away from the controversy with an appreciation for the importance of free speech. On the other …
Time, Place, And Manner Restrictions On Speech, R. George Wright
Time, Place, And Manner Restrictions On Speech, R. George Wright
Northern Illinois University Law Review
The category of time, place, and manner restrictions on speech, as supposedly distinct from absolute bans, appears to be central to free speech law. Even a modest examination of the case law, however, suggests the arbitrariness of any such distinction. Any familiar time, place, or manner restriction on speech can be reasonably re-described as an absolute ban on speech, and vice versa. Any differences in how the relevant regulations of speech should be judicially tested, whether by differing degrees of rigor or otherwise, are correspondingly arbitrary. This Article recommends abandoning any attempt to substantively distinguish between time, place, and manner …
Vol. 3 No. 1, Fall 2011; The Fcc's Net Neutrality Rules And Mobile Networks: Who Really Rules The Air?, Joseph Pumilia
Vol. 3 No. 1, Fall 2011; The Fcc's Net Neutrality Rules And Mobile Networks: Who Really Rules The Air?, Joseph Pumilia
Northern Illinois Law Review Supplement
The Internet has become an essential part of almost every American's life. The livelihood of many people and business are tied directly to the availability of the Internet. The Internet gives small businesses access to a market that allows them to reach customers all around the world. Many of these businesses have survived only because they are able to reach markets outside of their geographical area. More importantly, the Internet has become the primary platform for the expression and dissemination of ideas. Using the Internet, literally anyone can express themselves while reaching an audience that is unparalleled by any other …
Bong Hits 4 Jesus: Making Sense Of Free Speech In High Schools, Mark W. Cordes
Bong Hits 4 Jesus: Making Sense Of Free Speech In High Schools, Mark W. Cordes
College of Law Faculty Publications
The Supreme Court’s most recent high school speech case, Morse v. Fredericks, 127 S.Ct. 2618 (2007), generated much attention, perhaps more than the specific issue before the Court was worth. Much of that attention, of course, was attributable to the informal name for the case - “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” By itself that was enough to create a groundswell of curiosity and allowed the media to make the normally dry and stuffy workings of the Supreme Court sound downright fun. Beyond that, however, the case involved the intersection of a highly valued liberty, free speech, with the tumultuous setting of …
Speech Shouldn't Be "Free" At Funerals: An Analysis Of The Respect For America's Fallen Heroes Act, Zachary P. Augustine
Speech Shouldn't Be "Free" At Funerals: An Analysis Of The Respect For America's Fallen Heroes Act, Zachary P. Augustine
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This comment analyzes the facial constitutionality of the protest limitation provisions of the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act under the First Amendment's free speech clause and concludes that they are constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions. The Act is facially content-neutral because it does not define the impermissible speech by reference to its content. Further, the Act was enacted for the content-neutral purpose of furthering the government's significant interest of protecting grieving families during funeral services. The restrictions are narrowly tailored because they only restrict speech that actually interferes with, or imminently will interfere with, the funeral service and …
Harper V. Poway Unified School District: The Wrong Path To The Right Outcome?, Mark A. Perlaky
Harper V. Poway Unified School District: The Wrong Path To The Right Outcome?, Mark A. Perlaky
Northern Illinois University Law Review
A case note looking at the case of Harper v. Poway Unified School District, where a high school student wished to wear a t-shirt to school that was derogatory towards homosexual students and was met with discipline by school officials. The note observes the 9th Circuit's holding that Harper had violated the "rights of others" prong of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, while suggesting that the appellate court was not entirely correct in its holdings. The note then examines how other school speech cases, including Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, …
Injustice In Our Schools: Students' Free Speech Rights Are Not Being Vigilantly Protected, Heather K. Lloyd
Injustice In Our Schools: Students' Free Speech Rights Are Not Being Vigilantly Protected, Heather K. Lloyd
Northern Illinois University Law Review
For many years, the Supreme Court and lower courts have been struggling to protect students' free speech rights while allowing school officials to operate schools efficiently and effectively. In the past this balance was struck in favor of protecting students' rights by only allowing regulations that are necessary to avoid substantial disruption to the school environment. For the past fourteen years, however, the balance has been struck in favor of schools and against protecting students' rights by upholding the regulations of school officials as long as they are reasonable. This lower standard of scrutiny for school regulations imposed on students …
Wide Awake Or Half-Asleep? Revelations From Jurisprudential Tailings Found In Rosenberger V. University Of Virginia, Robert L. Waring
Wide Awake Or Half-Asleep? Revelations From Jurisprudential Tailings Found In Rosenberger V. University Of Virginia, Robert L. Waring
Northern Illinois University Law Review
The Rosenberger Court contracted the boundaries of the no funding principle of the Establishment Clause. In so doing, the Court, speaking through Justice Kennedy, ran roughshod over several important tools used in free speech analysis. Rosenberger altered the line between viewpoint and content, clouded the role of strict scrutiny and eviscerated the already weakened limited public forum concept. The article analyzes several post-Rosenberger circuit court holdings in free speech cases. In addition, it discusses the potential impact of Rosenberger - a case limited to the expenditure of student activity funds at public universities - on the future collection of mandatory …
Spinning A Tighter Web: The First Amendment And Internet Regulation, Angela E. Wu
Spinning A Tighter Web: The First Amendment And Internet Regulation, Angela E. Wu
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This article examines the First Amendment issues associated with Internet regulation, specifically the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and discusses the district court opinion in ACLU v. Reno. The author considers existing legislation in the telecommunications industry and the effect of such legislation on First Amendment rights. In additions, the author contends that the Internet is a revolutionary medium that should remain free of government intrusion. Therefore, due to the impossibility of regulating the Internet and the value that society places on the free exchange of ideas, the CDA should not be upheld by the United States Supreme Court.
The Internet In The College Community, Robert M. O'Neil
The Internet In The College Community, Robert M. O'Neil
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This article reviews several current issues at the intersection of free expression and electronic communication on the college and university campus. It presupposes the conclusion which a unanimous Supreme Court reached in late June 1997, in the Communications Decency Act Case - that speech on the internet is as fully protected by the First Amendment as is expression in more traditional and familiar media. The quandary for institutions of higher learning, sharply criticized in this article, is the belief of many regulators, on as well as off campus, that electronic or digital messages pose different risks and may therefore be …
From The Ground To The Sky: The Continuing Conflict Between Private Property Rights And Free Speech Rights On The Shopping Center Front Seventeen Years After Pruneyard, Ian J. Mcpheron
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This Comment examines the intersection of property rights and free speech rights by tracing how the Supreme Court has dealt with this intersection in a shopping center context and in other contexts. The Comment proceeds to examine how state supreme courts have traversed the intersection in favor of property rights over free speech rights, and also how states that have not decided this issue will likely resolve it. Upon formulating an analysis practitioners can use in the future when arguing this issue in the undecided states, the Comment concludes that the best argument is based on how close a shopping …
Wisconsin V. Mitchell: The End Of Hate Crimes Or Just The End Of The First Amendment, Lisa M. Stozek
Wisconsin V. Mitchell: The End Of Hate Crimes Or Just The End Of The First Amendment, Lisa M. Stozek
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This note examines Wisconsin v. Mitchell, wherein the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not forbid "hate crime statutes" which lengthen the sentence of a criminal defendant for committing a bias-motivated crime. The author identifies a long line of First Amendment cases that are arguably contradictory to the Court's holding and examines the potential impact the decision's limit on free expression may have on society and free speech. The author concludes that while the Court's goal of suppressing hate crimes was admirable, the decision treads dangerously close to criminalizing speech and thought.
Current Challenges To Free Expression: A New Age Of Repression?, Geoffrey R. Stone
Current Challenges To Free Expression: A New Age Of Repression?, Geoffrey R. Stone
Northern Illinois University Law Review
In this essay, Dean Stone describes three examples of recent challenges to the principle of free expression. Addressing such diverse challenges as Jerry Falwell's dispute with Hustler Magazine and the University of Michigan's prohibition of "hate speech," Stone suggests that there may be dawning a new age of repression. In the final analysis, though, Stone is unable to conclude such a new age is upon us. The challenges may represent a last-ditch effort to forestall the virtually complete abolition of governmentally-enforced standards of decency and civility in public discourse.
Doe V. University Of Michigan, District Court Strikes Down University Policy Against Racial Harassment On Grounds Of Vagueness And Overbreadth, Timothy B. Zollinger
Doe V. University Of Michigan, District Court Strikes Down University Policy Against Racial Harassment On Grounds Of Vagueness And Overbreadth, Timothy B. Zollinger
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This note examines the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan decision invalidating the University of Michigan's racial harassment policy. The issue facing the court was one of first impression and was whether a university may adopt a racial harassment policy designed to protect harassment and intimidation on the basis of race, without infringing upon an individuals' first amendment rights to free speech and expression. This Note examines the court's decision invalidating the policy and ultimately concludes that such decision was mandated by the University's enforcement of the policy.