Digital Commons Network^™

When Does F*** Not Mean F***?: Fcc V. Fox Television Stations And A Call For Protecting Emotive Speech, W. Wat Hopkins

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Supreme Court of the United States does not always deal cogently with nontraditional language. The most recent example is FCC v. Fox Television Stations, in which the Justices became sidetracked into attempting to define the f-word and then to determine whether, when used as a fleeting expletive rather than repeatedly, the word is indecent for broadcast purposes. The Court would do well to avoid definitions and heed Justice John Marshall Harlan's advice in Cohen v. California to provide protection for the emotive, as well as the cognitive, element of speech

Public Corruption Concerns And Counter-Majoritarian Democracy Definition In Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission, Daaron Kimmel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In determining the shape of the free speech rights and anti-corruption concerns that courts must balance in campaign finance cases, judges are influenced by their own underlying understandings of what an ideal democracy should look like. For judges to decide whether the government is appropriately regulating the political process, the rules that allow all citizens to interact with and shape their democracy, judges must first decide what that democracy ought to look like. This affords judges a great deal of discretion in campaign finance cases. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a particularly bold judicial attempt to reshape the …

Rebel Without A Clause: The Irrelevance Of Article Vi To Constitutional Supremacy, Gary Lawson

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

With Stare Decisis and Constitutional Text, Jonathan Mitchell has produced what I think is the most interesting and creative textual defense (or at least partial defense) to date of the use of horizontal precedent in federal constitutional cases. Mitchell's careful analysis of the Supremacy Clause is fascinating and instructive, and he does an impeccable job of drawing out the implications of his premise that the Supremacy Clause prescribes only a very limited choice-of-law rule-a rule that does not, by its own terms, specifically elevate the Constitution above federal statutes and treaties. His innovative and intriguing framework yields four distinct conclusions …

The "Strong Medicine" Of The Overbreadth Doctrine: When Statutory Exceptions Are No More Than A Placebo, Christopher A. Pierce

Federal Communications Law Journal

In United States v. Stevens, the United States Supreme Court invalidated a federal statute criminalizing the interstate sale and distribution of depictions of animal cruelty on First Amendment grounds. While Stevens demonstrates the Court's reluctance to create a new category of speech outside of First Amendment protection, Stevens also stands for the proposition that borrowing the exceptions clause from the Court's obscenity standard will not adequately protect a statute from invalidation as overbroad. This Note discusses the use of the obscenity standard's exceptions clause in nonobscenity statutes and the Court's treatment of the exceptions clause in Stevens. This Note concludes …

An Alternative Approach To Evaluating Attorney Speech Critical Of The Judiciary: A Balancing Of Court, Attorney, And Public Interests, Benjamin Beezy

UC Irvine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sacrifice And Sacred Honor: Why The Constitution Is A "Suicide Pact", Peter Brandon Bayer

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Most legal scholars and elected officials embrace the popular cliché that “the Constitution is not a suicide pact.” Typically, those commentators extol the “Constitution of necessity,” the supposition that Government, essentially the Executive, may take any action—may abridge or deny any fundamental right—to alleviate a sufficiently serious national security threat. The “Constitution of necessity” is wrong. This Article explains that strict devotion to the “fundamental fairness” principles of the Constitution’s Due Process Clauses is America’s utmost legal and moral duty, surpassing all other considerations, even safety, security and survival.

The analysis begins with the most basic premises: the definition of …

All A Twitter: Social Networking, College Athletes, And The First Amendment, Davis Walsh

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Campus Citizenship And Associational Freedom: An Aristolelian Take On The Nondiscrimination Puzzle, Chapin Cimino

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Student expressive association on campus is a thorny thicket. Student affinity groups often choose to organize around a shared principle or characteristic of the groups’ members, which, by definition, makes those students different in some way from their peers. In order to preserve the group’s sense of uniqueness, these groups often then wish to control their own membership and voting policies. They feel, in essence, entitled to discriminate—a right arguably embodied by the First Amendment freedom of expressive association. When campus groups actually exercise this right, however, they run into university antidiscrimination policies, which can cost them official campus recognition. …

The "Padilla Advisory" And Its Implications Beyond The Immigration Context, Hanh H. Le

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Getting Time For An Acquitted Crime: The Unconstitutional Use Of Acquitted Conduct At Sentencing And New York's Call For Change, Megan Sterback

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Claims Of Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel: The Clash Of The Federal And New York State Constitutions, Timothy M. Riselvato

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Students' Fourth Amendment Rights In Schools: Strip Searches, Drug Tests, And More, Emily Gold Waldman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Technologies Of Control And The Future Of The First Amendment, Christopher S. Yoo

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Globalization And Structure, Julian Ku, John Yoo

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Vanishing Virginia Constitution?, Hon. Stephen R. Mccullough

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federalism Under Obama, Gillian E. Metzger

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Laws For Learning In An Age Of Acceleration, John O. Mcginnis

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining Instrumentalities Of Deadly Force, Tim Longo

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Qualified Immunity: Further Developments In The Post-Pearson Era, Karen M. Blum

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Twombly And Iqbal: The Introduction Of A Heightened Pleading Standard, Shira A. Sheindlin Honorable

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wrongful Conviction Claims Under Section 1983, Martin A. Schwartz, Robert W. Pratt Honorable

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Criminal Law Jurisprudence: Fair Trials, Cruel Punishment, And Ethical Lawyering - October 2009 Term, Richard Klein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Three Vital Issues: Incorporation Of The Second Amendment, Federal Government Power, And Separation Of Powers - October 2009 Term, Michael C. Dorf, Erwin Chemerinsky

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Attorney's Fees In Civil Rights Cases - October 2009 Term, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lawyering Decisions - October 2009 Term, Eileen Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

First Amendment Freedom Of Speech And Religion - October 2009 Term, Burt Neuborne, Michael C. Dorf

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Court Of Appeals Of New York: Wooley V. New York State Department Of Correctional Services, Joseph Leocata

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Appellate Division, Fourth Department: People V. Gibson, Kashima A. Loney

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

County Court Of New York, Sullivan County: People V. Robar, Andrew W. Koster

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Court Of Appeals Of New York: People V. Williams, Gregory E. Wenz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.