Digital Commons Network^™

The Law Of Advertising Outrage, Mark Bartholomew

Journal Articles

This article examines the stimulation of audience outrage, both as a marketing strategy and as a subject of legal regulation. A brief history of advertising in the United States reveals repeated yet relatively infrequent attempts to attract consumer attention through overt transgressions of social norms relating to sex, violence, race, and religion. Natural concerns over audience reaction limited use of this particular advertising tactic as businesses needed to be careful not to alienate prospective purchasers. But now companies can engage in “algorithmic outrage”—social media advertising meant to stimulate individual feelings of anger and upset—with less concern for a consumer backlash. …

Telemarketing, Technology, And The Regulation Of Private Speech: First Amendment Lessons From The Fcc's Tcpa Rules, Gus Hurwitz

Articles

This article considers the viability of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in light of recent Supreme Court First Amendment precedent (such as Reed v. Town of Gilbert and Sorrell v. IMS Health) and technological & regulatory developments (such as the FCC’s ongoing consideration of rules that would allow or require prospective callers to implement technologies that obviate many of the TCPA’s concerns). The TCPA is the primary law prohibiting “robocalls” – phone calls made using autodialers or pre-recorded messages without the consent of the call recipient. In recent years robocalls have become one of the primary consumer protection issues …

Message From The President, Georgia Southern University

Messages from the President (2016-present)

• Diversity and Inclusiom

The George-Anne Daily, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Workplace Bullying Policies, Higher Education And The First Amendment: Building Bridges Not Walls, Frances L. M. Smith, Crystal Rae Coel

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that higher education institutions should change their Faculty Codes of Conduct to reflect workplace bullying as a form of unacceptable harassment. The article first provides a definition for workplace bullying; secondly, it offers an analysis of how the First Amendment is not an absolute, especially in the workplace; thirdly, it examines the scant legislative and judicial attention that is given to this issue; and finally, an argument is made to show how colleges and universities are not providing clear enough policies and procedures to address workplace bullying. That argument focuses on results …

The Problem Isn't Just Backpage: Revising Section 230 Immunity, Danielle K. Citron, Benjamin Wittes

Faculty Scholarship

Backpage is a classifieds hub that hosts “80 percent of the online advertising for illegal commercial sex in the United States.” This is not by happenstance but rather by design. Evidence suggests that the advertising hub selectively removed postings discouraging sex trafficking. The site also tailored its rules to protect the practice from detection, including allowing anonymized email and photographs stripped of metadata. Under the prevailing interpretation of 47 U.S.C. § 230 (“Section 230”) of the CDA, however, Backpage would be immune from liability connected to sex trafficking even though it proactively helped sex traffickers from getting caught. No matter …

Cheers To Central Hudson: How Traditional Intermediate Scrutiny Helps Keep Independent Craft Beer Viable, Daniel J. Croxall

NULR Online

Independent craft breweries contributed approximately $68 billion to the national economy last year. However, an arcane regulatory scheme governs the alcohol industry in general and the craft beer industry specifically, posing both obstacles and benefits to independent craft brewers. This Essay examines regulations that arguably infringe on free speech: namely, commercial speech regulations that prohibit alcohol manufacturers from purchasing advertising space from retailers. Such regulations were enacted to prohibit undue influence and anticompetitive behavior stemming from vertical and horizontal integration in the alcohol market. Although these regulations are necessary to prevent global corporate brewers from dominating the craft beer market …

Faith Is The First Step: Faith-Based Solutions To Homelessness, Katherine Means, Sara Rankin

Homeless Rights Advocacy Project

This brief guides faith leaders interested in providing homeless services on their land, highlighting legal and operational considerations and community education and outreach. Faith-based organizations (FBOs) have been important social services providers throughout history. Today, they continue to play an important role with specific legal protections. Indeed, FBOs enjoy special legal protections for their religious practice, which may allow them to provide shelter even if otherwise prohibited by local law. Any FBO with the desire to address homelessness on its land should be able to do so, and this brief sets forth best practices based on successful case studies in …

Begging For Change: Begging Restrictions Throughout Washington, Sara Rankin, Jocelyn Tillisch, Drew Sena, Judith Olson

Homeless Rights Advocacy Project

The act of panhandling, commonly known as begging, is a form of speech protected by the United States Constitution. But Washington’s cities are increasingly enacting laws that criminalize begging, despite courts finding these laws unconstitutional under both the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause. This brief surveys begging restrictions, assessing their scope and legality. This report offers the first statewide analysis of laws that restrict begging.

Among the brief's key findings is that the vast majority (86%) of Washington cities criminalize begging; the majority (83%) of these laws result in a criminal charge if violated, leading to serious collateral …

Las Vegas Review-Journal V. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 134 Nev. Adv. Op. 7 (Feb. 27, 2018), Matthew J. Mckissick

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that the First Amendment does not allow a court to prevent the press from reporting on a redacted autopsy report already released to the public.

Gander Thinks We Need More Civility In Public Discourse, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I became a professor of communication studies because I like talking about public arguments.” That’s how Dr. Eric Gander explains why he is what he is today. And in this era of public discussions of free speech and the First Amendment, his interests seem more relevant than ever.

Gander is a native of Tallahassee, Florida. He received a bachelor’s in economics a master’s in communication from the University of Virginia, and a doctorate in communication studies from Northwestern University. Today he is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at …

Student Protests And Academic Freedom In An Age Of #Blacklivesmatter, Philip Lee

Journal Articles

Student activism for racial equity and inclusion is on a historic rise on college and university campuses across the country. Students are reminding us that Black lives matter. They are bringing attention to the ways in which the normal operation of the legal system creates racial and other inequalities. They are critiquing the ways in which their experiences and perspectives are pushed to the margins in classrooms, on campuses, and in society.

In urging for university policies that allow for such activism to be moments of teaching and learning for all involved, I argue in this Article that student academic …

Sex, Lies, And Ultrasound, B. Jessie Hill

Faculty Publications

State-mandated falsehoods are rampant in the context of abortion regulation. State legislatures have required doctors, before performing abortions, to provide scientifically unsupported information to women, such as that having an abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, or that it has negative mental health effects. Given the lack of evidence to sustain these sorts of claims, it seems reasonable to refer to such statements as government-mandated lies. However, this article argues that government mandated lies in the abortion context are unique in several ways that make them unlikely to be found unconstitutional, despite the fact that they obviously hinder patients’ …

The New Governors: The People, Rules And Processes Governing Online Speech, Kate Klonick

Faculty Publications

Private online platforms have an increasingly essential role in free speech and participation in democratic culture. But while it might appear that any internet user can publish freely and instantly online, many platforms actively curate the content posted by their users. How and why these platforms operate to moderate speech is largely opaque.

This Article provides the first analysis of what these platforms are actually doing to moderate online speech under a regulatory and First Amendment framework. Drawing from original interviews, archived materials, and internal documents, this Article describes how three major online platforms — Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube — …

Religious Exemptions, Third-Party Harms, And The False Analogy To Church Taxes, Christopher C. Lund

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Categorizing Student Speech, Alexander Tsesis

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Thirty Years Of Hazelwood And Its Spread To Colleges And University Campuses, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article first examines K-12 student speech law before Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier and then discusses the Hazelwood decision. Next, the article focuses on the spread of Hazelwood and its deferential standard to the college and university level. This section examines cases from five different areas where the standard has been utilized with increasing frequency. Finally, the Article offers a few concluding thoughts on the Hazelwood standard and why it should be limited, if not interred.

Essay: Justice Thurgood Marshall, Great Defender Of First Amendment Free-Speech Rights For The Powerless, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay explains that Justice Thurgood Marshall’s passionate defense of freedom of expression can be seen most clearly in his defense of free-speech rights even when the government acts not as sovereign, but as warden, employer, or educator. In other words, Marshall’s commitment to free-speech is shown most forcefully by how he consistently protected the free-expression rights of inmates, public employees, and public school students.

Thwarting Speech On College Campuses, Stephen Wermiel

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Brand Renegades Redux, Jeremy N. Sheff

Faculty Publications

In "Brand Renegades," 1 NYU J. Intell. Prop. & Ent. L. 128 (2011), I identified a new frontier in trademark enforcement: consumers who use branded products out of affiliation with some aspects of the image cultivated by the brand owner, but whose conspicuous consumption of the brand generates social meanings that are inconsistent with that image. As far-right political movements have built momentum in the consumer economies of the West, this type of "brand renegade" consumption has taken a much darker turn. Over the past two years, neo-Nazis and white supremacists have conspicuously adopted well-known brands in their bids to …

The First Amendment Implications Of Copyright's Double Standard, Raymond Shih Ray Ku

Faculty Publications

Beginning with a simple question, “What’s the big deal? It’s just entertainment,” this Article argues that copyright law restricts more than just entertainment - it restricts freedom of artistic expression. Despite copyright’s facial neutrality, courts have interpreted otherwise neutral rules to subject authors to a double standard for expression. Through a series of doctrinal contradictions and hypocrisies, copyright singles out “just entertainment,” imposing greater restrictions upon the freedom of those authors relative to all other authors. By discriminating against “entertainment,” the current doctrine violates its own fundamental tenet of non-discrimination. Moreover, by selectively restricting how authors may choose to engage …

Favoring The Press, Sonja R. West

Scholarly Works

In the 2010 case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the United States Supreme Court caught the nation’s attention by declaring that corporations have a First Amendment right to independently spend unlimited amounts of money in political campaigns. The Court rested its 5-4 decision in large part on a concept of speaker-based discrimination. In the Court’s words, “the Government may commit a constitutional wrong when by law it identifies certain preferred speakers.”

To drive home its point that speaker-based distinctions are inherently problematic, the Court focused on one type of speaker distinction — the treatment of news media corporations. …

The Government's Manufacture Of Doubt, Helen Norton

Publications

“The manufacture of doubt” refers to a speaker’s strategic efforts to undermine factual assertions that threaten its self-interest. This strategy was perhaps most famously employed by the tobacco industry in its longstanding campaign to contest mounting medical evidence linking cigarettes to a wide range of health risks. At its best, the government’s speech can counter such efforts and protect the public interest, as exemplified by the Surgeon General’s groundbreaking 1964 report on the dangers of tobacco, a report that challenged the industry’s preferred narrative. But the government’s speech is not always so heroic, and governments themselves sometimes seek to manufacture …

Of Course The First Amendment Protects Google And Facebook (And It’S Not A Close Question), Eric Goldman

Faculty Publications

It has become trendy in some circles to strategize how to negate Constitutional protection for Internet giants like Google and Facebook so that they can be more heavily regulated. As part of the Knight First Amendment Institute’s Emerging Threats series, Heather Whitney published a paper in this genre, Search Engines, Social Media, and the Editorial Analogy, questioning whether Google and Facebook were properly analogized to newspapers for First Amendment purposes.

This short essay responds to Ms. Whitney's paper with two main points. First, the newspaper analogy isn't necessary to determine that Google and Facebook engage in speech and press activities. …

Corporations As Conduits: A Cautionary Note About Regulating Hypotheticals, Douglas M. Spencer

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ongoing Challenge To Define Free Speech, Stephen Wermiel

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Can Cyber Harassment Laws Encourage Online Speech?, Jonathon Penney

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Do laws criminalizing online harassment and cyberbullying "chill" online speech? Critics often argue that they do. However, this article discusses findings from a new empirical legal study that suggests, counter-intuitively, that while such legal interventions likely have some dampening effect, they may also facilitate and encourage more speech, expression, and sharing by those who are most often the targets of online harassment: women. Relevant findings on this point from this first-of-its-kind study are set out and discussed along with their implications.

Free Speech And Generally Applicable Laws: A New Doctrinal Synthesis, Dan T. Coenen

Scholarly Works

A longstanding mystery of constitutional law concerns how the Free Speech Clause interacts with “generally applicable” legal restrictions. This Article develops a new conceptual framework for working through this puzzle. It does so by extracting from prior Supreme Court rulings an approach that divides these restrictions into three separate categories, each of which (at least presumptively) brings into play a different level of judicial scrutiny. An example of the first and most closely scrutinized category of generally applicable laws—that is, laws that place a “direct in effect” burden on speech—is provided by breach-of-the-peace statutes. These laws are generally applicable because …

Judicial Review Of Disproportionate (Or Retaliatory) Deportation, Jason A. Cade

Scholarly Works

This Article focuses attention on two recent and notable federal court opinions considering challenges to Trump administration deportation decisions. While finding no statutory bar to the noncitizens’ detention and deportation in these cases, the court in each instance paused to highlight the injustice of the removal decisions. This Article places the opinions in the context of emerging immigration enforcement trends, which reflect a growing indifference to disproportionate treatment as well as enforcement actions founded on retaliation for the exercise of constitutional rights. Judicial decisions like the ones considered here serve vital functions in the cause of immigration law reform even …

When Should The First Amendment Protect Judges From Their Unethical Speech?, Lynne H. Rambo

Faculty Scholarship

Judges harm the judicial institution when they engage in inflammatory or overtly political extrajudicial speech. The judiciary can be effective only when it has the trust of the citizenry, and judicial statements of that sort render it impossible for citizens to see judges as neutral and contemplative arbiters. This lack of confidence would seem especially dangerous in times like these, when the citizenry is as polarized as it has ever been.

Ethical codes across the country (based on the Model Code of Judicial Conduct) prohibit judges from making these partisan, prejudicial or otherwise improper remarks. Any discipline can be undone, …