Law Commons^™

Defamation—A Standard Of Review For Constitutional Facts, Susan Stevens

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Religious Exercise Is Not Free: Deprogramming And The Constitutional Status Of Coercively Induced Belief, Richard Delgado

Vanderbilt Law Review

The present Article offers a defense of deprogramming and a reply to its critics, particularly Shapiro. Part II reviews what hap-pens in many instances of cult joining and offers a conceptual account that justifies deprogramming of cult members who are unable to comprehend or surmount the coercive and deceptive influences that led to their commitment. Part III addresses constitutional problems that are triggered in the event that deprogramming should affect religious belief-an event that is by no means inevitable. Part IV discusses deprogramming and whether some variant of it is capable of remedying the type of situation ad-dressed in part …

The Journalist's Privilege In Arkansas, John J. Watkins

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Forced Disclosure Of Academic Research, J. Graham Matherne

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note advocates that courts follow the procedures that rule 45 and its progeny provide to evaluate the special concerns of academic researchers, rather than rely on the Constitution to shield the academic researcher under the mystical guise of academic freedom. Part II of this Note examines the four cases in which federal courts have decided whether to force an academic to disclose his research. Part III focuses on the guidelines that the relevant Federal Rules establish for forced disclosure. Part IV discusses the academic freedom approach to forced disclosure and the common law and constitutional arguments that favor academic …

Constitutional Law—Legislative Prayer Does Not Violate Establishment Clause, Caswell Bruton Blackard Iii

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Establishment Clause Limits On Governmental Interference With Religious Organizations, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

In this article it will be argued that the establishment clause, properly viewed, functions as a structural provision regimenting the nature and degree of involvement between government and religious associations." The degree of involvement should be a limited one, although it is clear that the interrelationship need not nor cannot be eliminated altogether. Although the degree of desired separation has proven to be a continuing controversy, the goal of separation is not so divisive. The aim of separation of church and government is for each to give the other sufficient breathing space. The ordering principle is reciprocity in which "both …

The Tort Liability Of Investigative Reporters, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most significant developments in recent years, in both constitutional and tort law, began with the holding in New York Times v. Sullivan that the first amendment places substantial restrictions on the common law tort action for defamation. Although the ramifications of New York Times are still developing,that continuing reform of the law of defamation will result is to be expected. The readjustment of the balancing of conflicting interests that New York Times represents came about at the behest of the press,and the press have been the primary beneficiaries of these developments. Indeed, some commentators contend that the …

Mueller V. Allen: A Fairer Approach To The Establishment Clause, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

The decision upheld by the United States Supreme Court in Mueller v. Allen helds a new dawn in establishment clause jurisprudence. This five-to-four decision, written for the majority by Justice Rehnquist, upheld a Minnesota statute permitting taxpayers to deduct the tuition, textbook, transportation, and instructional material expenses of their children when calculating their state tax liability. By this decision, the Court has cleared the way for an accommodation between church and state that more equitably recognizes the principles and values that the religion clauses were intended to protect.

Following a review of the history of the establishment clause, tuition tax …

Dbs Under Fcc And International Regulation, Paul B. Larsen, Ilise L. Feitshans, Loretta J. Garcia, Julie Kitser, Richard Heindle, Judith R. Larsen, Gerald Musarra, Kathleen A. Mcgill, Joan M. Mcgivern, Patrick Schmidt, Barbara L. Waite

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article examines the legal and technological development of DBS in both the domestic and international fora. Part II examines the development of DBS and information policy concerning DBS in the United States. The Article then in part III discusses the international positions of the developed nations, the developing countries, and the Soviet bloc on the DBS issues and reveals the results thus far in the policy debate among these nations and the United States. Part IV concludes the Article with a brief outline of the possibilities for international cooperation to solve the DBS controversy.

Restrictions On Public Broadcasters' Rights To Editorialize, Susan H. Williams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Religion And A Neutral State: Imperative Or Impossibility?, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

The thesis of this Article is that the myth-of-neutrality argument is partially right and partially wrong. For reasons of religious liberty, the state can and should avoid any involvement with matters of religious worship, and the propagation or inculcation of matters that comprise the very heart of one's belief concerning the nature and destiny of mankind. Conversely, the state cannot retreat from the regulation of certain conduct which is arguably immoral and still claim its neutrality concerning the rightness of the conduct. The very decision by the state to withdraw its regulation, leaving the morality of the conduct up to …

Constitutional Review Of Building Codes And Zoning Ordinances Applied To Parochial Schools: City Of Sumner V. First Baptist Church, Philip R. Meade

Seattle University Law Review

The First Baptist Church court should not have required strict scrutiny of either the building code or the zoning ordinance applications. In reaching its decision, the court incorrectly analyzed Supreme Court decisions construing the free exercise clause, and drew mistaken parallels between the two Sumner ordinances and laws that the Supreme Court has identified as burdening religious freedom. The court should have distinguished between generally applicable laws such as Sumner's building code and zoning ordinance that, in regulating the peripheral aspects of religious conduct, incidentally make a religious practice less convenient or more expensive, and laws that effectively penalize the …

Criminal Coercion And Freedom Of Speech, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

This essay about constitutional limits on criminal coercion concerns a piece of a larger puzzle; how freedom of expression impinges on crimes that involve communication. The essay has two interrelated purposes. One is to reach some rather specific conclusions about the kinds of coercive threats that enjoy constitutional protection and to suggest how legislative formulations of criminal coercion can minimize coverage of such threats. The second purpose, more general and theoretical, is to show how the boundaries of freedom of expression can be understood and how courts can employ those boundaries to arrive at specific tests of constitutional protection. The …

Religion As A Concept In Constitutional Law, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

Because federal and state constitutions forbid government from infringing upon religious liberty or supporting religion, courts must sometimes decide whether a claim, activity, organization, purpose, or classification is religious. In most cases arising under these religion clauses, the religiousness of an activity or organization will be obvious. However; when the presence of religion is seriously controverted, the threshold question, "defining religion," becomes important. Most courts have prudently eschewed theoretical generalizations in approaching that question. Academic commentators have struggled to startlingly diverse proposals.

This Article suggests that in both free exercise and establishment cases, courts should decide whether something is religious …

The Press And The Public Interest: An Essay On The Relationship Between Social Behavior And The Language Of First Amendment Theory, Lee C. Bollinger

Faculty Scholarship

I would like to explore in this essay one aspect of the contemporary American debate over the theory of freedom of speech and press. The subject I want to address is this: whether the principle of freedom of speech and press should be viewed as protecting some personal or individual interest in speaking and writing or whether it should be seen as fostering a collective or public interest. Sometimes this issue is stated as being whether the first amendment protects a "right to speak" or a "right to hear," though in general the problem seems to be whether we should …