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7 Things You Need To Know About: Constitutional Law, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

These slides cover the 7 most important things you need to know about Constitutional Law - especially as it relates to business. Topics covered include the Supremacy Clause & preemption, Commercial Speech & the First Amendment, the Commerce Clause, the Bill of Rights and Constitutional History.

Replay That Tune: Defending Bakke On Stare Decisis Grounds, Charles Adside Iii

Charles adside III

No abstract provided.

The High Price Of Poverty: A Study Of How The Majority Of Current Court System Procedures For Collecting Court Costs And Fees, As Well As Fines, Have Failed To Adhere To Established Precedent And The Constitutional Guarantees They Advocate., Trevor J. Calligan

Trevor J Calligan

No abstract provided.

Free Exercise For Whom? -- Could The Religious Liberty Principle That Catholics Established In Perez V. Sharp Also Protect Same-Sex Couples' Right To Marry?, Eric Alan Isaacson

Eric Alan Isaacson

Recent discussions about the threat that same-sex couples hypothetically pose to the religious freedom of Americans whose religions traditions frown upon same-sex unions have largely overlooked the possibility that same-sex couples might have their own religious-liberty interest in being able to marry. The General Synod of the United Church of Christ brought the issue to the fore with an April 2014 lawsuit challenging North Carolina laws barring same-sex marriages. Authored by a lawyer who represented the California Council of Churches and other religions organizations as amici curiae in recent marriage-equality litigation, this article argues that although marriage is a secular …

The Associational Hoax: Corporate Personhood & Shareholder Rights After Hobby Lobby And Citizens United, Jaimie K. Mcfarlin

Jaimie K. McFarlin

No abstract provided.

Mother May I? No, You May Not! Parental Consent Requirements For Students To Participate In Student-Led Clubs At Public Schools, Kelly A. Sherrill Linkous

Kelly A. Sherrill Linkous

This article considers the constitutionality of laws or policies requiring parental consent for student participation in school-based clubs or organizations, along with their consistency with the language in the federal Equal Access Act. It weighs the dueling parental right to direct the upbringing of their children against students’ constitutional speech and religious exercise rights within the schoolhouse gate. As a vehicle to analyze the constitutionality of all similarly-worded state laws and school district policies, the article examines a Georgia statute mandating parental consent for student participation in clubs. The Georgia statute is similar to Oklahoma’s and Utah’s statutes, as well …

Free Expression, In-Group Bias, And The Court's Conservatives: A Critique Of The Epstein-Parker-Segal Study, Todd E. Pettys

Todd E. Pettys

In a recent, widely publicized study, a prestigious team of political scientists concluded that there is strong evidence of ideological in-group bias among the Supreme Court’s members in First Amendment free-expression cases, with the current four most conservative justices being the Roberts Court’s worst offenders. Beneath the surface of the authors’ conclusions, however, one finds a surprisingly sizable combination of coding errors, superficial case readings, and questionable judgments about litigants’ ideological affiliations. Many of those problems likely flow either from shortcomings that reportedly afflict the Supreme Court Database (the data set that nearly always provides the starting point for empirical …

Toward A New Separation Of Church And State: Implications For Analogies To Last Year's Supreme Court Decision In Hobby Lobby By This Year's Decision In Obergefell V. Hodges, Vincent Samar

Vincent J. Samar

No abstract provided.

Bad Math: How Non-Union Employees Are Unconstitutionally Compelled To Subsidize Political Speech, Shirley V. Svorny, Melanie S. Williams

Melanie S. Williams

Employees’ right to organize and be represented by unions is in tension with the right of other employees not to join organizations as a condition of employment. Current law permits unions to assess agency fees from represented non-members, reflecting the cost of representational activities (for example, contract negotiation). Unions may not, however, assess non-members for the cost of political activities, since this would infringe on the constitutional rights of such employees by requiring them to subsidize political speech. The method of calculating agency fees, however, has been almost uniformly mishandled, resulting in overcharging non-union members. In this paper, we examine …

America's Written Constitution: Remembering The Judicial Duty To Say What The Law Is, Joshua J. Schroeder

Joshua J Schroeder

In 2013 the Supreme Court embraced a policy of feigned positivism. In general positivism says there are no future rewards and punishments and thus there is no Natural Law that holds sway over rulers whether it is established by a creator God or not. Thus adopting positivism leaves the Court with an existential problem because the Court’s equitable power flows directly from Natural Law and Nature’s God and is much older than the new country known as the United States. But even in the scope of U.S. history positivism lost significant ground in its struggle with equitable power and the …

Religious Freedom & Closely Held Corporations: The Hobby Lobby Case & Its Ethical Implications, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

Hobby Lobby and its quest for religious freedom captured the attention of a nation for a few moments in late June 2014. The country homed in on the Supreme Court as the justices weighed the rights of an incorporated, profit-making entity run by devout individuals that objected to particular entitlements granted to women under the Affordable Care Act. The case raised important legal issues such as whether the law allows for-profit corporations to exercise religion (yes!) and whether protection for religious freedom trumps the rights of third parties to cost free preventive care (sort of!). The Supreme Court’s decision also …

"God Hates Fags" Isn't The Same As "Fuck The Draft": Introducing The Non-Sexual Obscenity Doctrine, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

No abstract provided.

Balancing The Scales: Adhuc Sub Judice Li Est Or Trial By Media, Casey J. Cooper

Casey J Cooper

The right to freedom of expression and free press is recognized under almost all major human rights instruments and domestic legal systems—common and civil—in the world. However, what do you do when a fundamental right conflicts with another equally fundamental right, like the right to a fair trial? In the United States, the freedom of speech, encompassing the freedom of the press, goes nearly unfettered: the case is not the same for other common law countries. In light of cultural and historic facts, institutional factors, modern realities, and case-law, this Article contends that current American jurisprudence does not take into …

Freedom Of Speech & Election Day At The Polls: Thou Doth Protest Too Much, James J. Woodruff Ii

James J. Woodruff II

This Article seeks to answer the following question: What are the actual limits the government can place on political speech at and around the polling place? In examining this question, this Article argues that some of the current limitations placed on polling-place activities are unconstitutional. Specifically, this Article focuses on the wearing of political slogans and images within the polling room and campaign-free zone and the placement of campaign signs within the campaign-free zone.

The Basis For Noerr-Pennington Immunity: An Argument Based On Supreme Court Precedent That Federal Antitrust Law Forms The Foundation Of Noerr-Pennington, Not The First Amendment, Michael Pemstein

Michael Pemstein

Under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine defendants are immune from liability for violations of federal antitrust law that result from their efforts to influence the passage or enforcement of laws, even if the laws they advocate for, or their means of advocacy, have anticompetitive effects. Many courts have assumed that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine is based solely on the protections afforded by the First Amendment right to petition and have extended the Noerr-Pennington doctrine to a wide variety of torts outside the antitrust context based on this assumption. This article argues that these courts have failed to recognize that Noerr-Pennington’s protections are …

Does “The Freedom Of The Press” Include A Right To Anonymity? The Original Meaning, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This Article examines relevant evidence to determine whether, as some have argued, the original legal force of the First Amendment’s “freedom of the press” included a per se right to anonymous authorship. The Article concludes that, except in cases in which freedom of the press had been abused, it did. Thus, from an originalist point of view, Supreme Court cases such as Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which upheld statutes requiring disclosure of donors to political advertising, were erroneously decided.

Omnipresent Student Speech And The Schoolhouse Gate: Interpreting Tinker In The Digital Age, Watt L. Black Jr.

Watt Lesley Black Jr.

This paper focuses primarily on federal circuit level decisions regarding public school district's ability to discipline students who engage in electronic speech while off-campus and not involved in school activities. Particular attention is paid to the question of whether and how appeals courts have been willing to apply the "material and substantial disruption" standard from the Supreme Court's 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines decision to speech occurring off-campus. The paper, which is targeted toward both legal scholars and school administrators, draws together the common threads from the various circuits and weaves them into a set of guidelines for school administrators …

Does “The Freedom Of The Press” Include A Right To Anonymity? The Original Meaning, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This Article examines relevant evidence to determine whether, as some have argued, the original legal force of the First Amendment’s “freedom of the press” included a per se right to anonymous authorship. The Article concludes that, except in cases in which freedom of the press had been abused, it did. Thus, from an originalist point of view, Supreme Court cases such as Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which upheld statutes requiring disclosure of donors to political advertising, were erroneously decided.

Demonstrators' Right To Fair Warning, Caleb Hayes-Deats

Caleb Hayes-Deats

Protesting has become an integral part of American politics, so much so that federal courts of appeals have recently restricted police officers’ power to arrest demonstrators who have concededly violated otherwise valid statutes and regulations. Specifically, courts have found that, where demonstrators may reasonably, yet mistakenly believe that police officers have permitted their conduct, officers must give “fair warning” before arresting or dispersing those demonstrators. In § 1983 suits, courts have even found that demonstrators’ right to fair warning is “clearly established.” While the right to fair warning may be clearly established, its doctrinal roots are not. Ordinarily, the requirement …

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …

Of Locke And Valor: Why The Supreme Court's Decision In United States V. Alvarez Does Not Foreclose Congress's Ability To Protect The Property Rights Of Medal Of Honor Recipients, Timothy J. Geverd

Timothy J. Geverd

No abstract provided.

A Matter Of Context: Casey And The Constitutionality Of Compelled Physician Speech, Scott W. Gaylord

Scott W. Gaylord

The last few years have seen an increasing number of States seek to regulate abortion procedures—from heart auscultation statutes to admitting privileges to minimum facility standards. One such regulation has involved “speech-and-display” statutes, which require physicians to conduct an ultrasound, display the sonogram images to a woman considering an abortion, and describe the anatomical features that are visible in the image. In addition to asserting traditional due process claims, physicians have challenged these ultrasound requirements on First Amendment grounds, arguing that speech-and-display laws compel physicians to engage in speech activity against their will and (sometimes) against their medical judgment.

Although …

Anonymous Speech On The Internet: Why Current Efforts By States To Regulate Anonymous Speech Fail Constitutional Scrutiny, And How Courts Should Protect First Amendment Rights, Conor Francis Linehan

Conor Francis Linehan

The legislatures in New York and Illinois have attempted to regulate the speech of individuals on the Internet and threaten to void their anonymity. The legislatures are trying to reach the actionable or harmful speech that often shows up on websites like Reddit.com. However, the bills have reached too far, and encompass much speech that is absolutely protected. This note argues that the right of anonymous speech on the Internet should be protected from government encroachment, and the proper way to protect the interests of individuals who are the subject of libelous or damaging speech should be through a re-working …

The Church Of Animal Liberation: Animal Rights As “Religion” Under The Free Exercise Clause, Bruce Friedrich

Bruce Friedrich

In this article, I do two things: First, I argue that a belief in animal liberation constitutes religion under constitutional jurisprudence interpreting the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Thus, every time a prison warden, teacher or school administrator, or government employer refuses to accommodate the ethical belief of an animal liberationist, they are infringing on that person’s religious freedom, and they should have to satisfy the same constitutional or statutory requirements that would adhere were the asserted interest based on more traditional religious exercise. Second, I suggest that one possible solution to the problem of widespread violation of …

Exposing Judges' Unaccountability And Consequent Riskless Wrongdoing: Pioneering The News And Publishing Field Of Judicial Unaccountability Reporting, Dr. Richard Cordero Esq.

Dr. Richard Cordero Esq.

This study analyzes official statistics of the Federal Judiciary, legal provisions, and other publicly filed documents. It discusses how federal judges’ life-appointment; de facto unimpeachability and irremovability; self-immunization from discipline through abuse of the Judiciary’s statutory self-policing authority; abuse of its vast Information Technology resources to interfere with their complainants’ communications; the secrecy in which they cover their adjudicative, administrative, disciplinary, and policy-making acts; and third parties’ fear of their individual and close rank retaliation render judges unaccountable. Their unaccountability makes their abuse of power riskless; the enormous amount of the most insidious corruptor over which they rule, money!, …

Exposing Judges' Unaccountability And Consequent Riskless Wrongdoing: Pioneering The News And Publishing Field Of Judicial Unaccountability Reporting, Dr. Richard Cordero Esq.

Dr. Richard Cordero Esq.

This study analyzes official statistics of the Federal Judiciary, legal provisions, and other publicly filed documents. It discusses how federal judges’ life-appointment; de facto unimpeachability and irremovability; self-immunization from discipline through abuse of the Judiciary’s statutory self-policing authority; abuse of its vast Information Technology resources to interfere with their complainants’ communications; the secrecy in which they cover their adjudicative, administrative, disciplinary, and policy-making acts; and third parties’ fear of their individual and close rank retaliation render judges unaccountable. Their unaccountability makes their abuse of power riskless; the enormous amount of the most insidious corruptor over which they rule, money!, …

Exposing Judges' Unaccountability And Consequent Riskless Wrongdoing: Pioneering The News And Publishing Field Of Judicial Unaccountability Reporting, Dr. Richard Cordero Esq.

Dr. Richard Cordero Esq.

This study analyzes official statistics of the Federal Judiciary, legal provisions, and other publicly filed documents. It discusses how federal judges’ life-appointment; de facto unimpeachability and irremovability; self-immunization from discipline through abuse of the Judiciary’s statutory self-policing authority; abuse of its vast Information Technology resources to interfere with their complainants’ communications; the secrecy in which they cover their adjudicative, administrative, disciplinary, and policy-making acts; and third parties’ fear of their individual and close rank retaliation render judges unaccountable. Their unaccountability makes their abuse of power riskless; the enormous amount of the most insidious corruptor over which they rule, money!, …

The Disincorporation Proclamation: Emancipating The Establishment Clause From The Fourteenth Amendment, Martin Wishnatsky

Martin Wishnatsky

No abstract provided.

Anonymity Is The Battlefield: Practical And Legal Considerations In The Fight For Free Expression On The Web, Dan Massoglia

Dan Massoglia

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Obstacles To Religious Exercise In K-12 Education, Lewis M. Wasserman

Lewis M. Wasserman

Overcoming Obstacles to Religious Exercise in K-12 Education LEWIS M. WASSERMAN Abstract Judicial decisions rendered during the last half-century have overwhelmingly favored educational agencies over claims by parents for religious accommodations to public education requirements, no matter what constitutional or statutory rights were pressed at the tribunal, or when the conflict arose. These claim failures are especially striking in the wake of the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (“RFRAs”) passed by Congress in 1993 and, to date, by eighteen state legislatures thereafter, since the RFRAs were intended to (1) insulate religious adherents from injuries inflicted by the United States Supreme Court’s …