Law Commons^™

Anti-Antisemitism Now, Lili Levi

University of Miami Law Review

On May 25, 2023, the Biden Administration released The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism—America’s first national strategy of this kind. In early November 2023, the White House announced the establishment of the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia. These historic commitments respond to increases in identity-based bias incidents and expression against Jews and Muslims. Antisemitic incidents, which were already rising even before the pandemic, increased by almost 400% since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The war also triggered a sharp upturn in Islamophobic incidents in the U.S., including the shooting of three college students and …

The News Media Engagement Principle: Why Social Media Has Not Actually Overrun The Limited Purpose Public Figure Category, Zachary R. Cormier

University of Miami Law Review

Has the rise of social media ruined the limited purpose public figure category of the First Amendment’s actual malice privilege? Justice Gorsuch believes so—and he has recently invited courts to get rid of it. He argues that the category now includes vast numbers of otherwise private citizens that have “become ‘public figures’ on social media overnight.” With so many people qualifying as limited purpose public figures (and having to overcome the actual malice standard to prevail on a defamation claim), he claims that the category has evolved to provide an unjustified shield for the masses of misinformation-peddlers on social media. …

For Freedom Or Full Of It? State Attempts To Silence Social Media, Grace Slicklen

University of Miami Law Review

Freedom of speech is, unsurprisingly, foundational to the “land of the free.” However, the “land of the free” has undergone some changes since the First Amendment’s ratification. Unprecedented technological evolution has ushered in a digital forum in which the volume, speed, and reach of words transcend the Framers’ visions of the First Amendment’s aims. Social media platforms have become central spaces for public discourse, where opportunities to create—and repress—speech are endless. From enabling individuals to freely express their views, to allowing state actors to limit open exchanges, it is about time that the Supreme Court tackles this complex issue of …

Advancing America’S Emblematic Right: Doctrinal Bases For The Fundamental Constitutional Right To Vote Per Se, Susan H. Bitensky

University of Miami Law Review

This Article identifies and examines the Supreme Court’s longstanding unintelligibility with respect to recognition of a fundamental right to vote per se under the Constitution. In a host of equal protection cases, the Court’s refusal to “say what the law is” in this regard has produced a chaotic jurisprudence on the status of the right. Because ours is a constitutional schema consisting of multiple types of rights to vote, the refusal manifests as judicial reliance on and acclamation of some unspecified right to vote. It is refusal by lack of clarity. The unsorted right has led some scholars to conclude …

Hiding In Plain Language: A Solution To The Pandemic Riddle Of A Suspended Grand Jury, An Expiring Statute Of Limitations, And The Fifth Amendment, Nicole D. Mariani

University of Miami Law Review

Under the statute of limitations applicable to most federal crimes, 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a), “no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after such offense shall have been committed.” That long-standing, generally uncontroversial procedural statute was thrust into the spotlight in 2020, when courts, prosecutors, and criminal defendants confronted an unprecedented and extraordinary scenario.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many federal district courts suspended grand juries to prevent the spread of the highly contagious life-threatening virus through group congregation. Indeed, …

Maritime Magic: How Cruise Lines Can Avoid State Law Compliance Through Passenger Contracts, Cameron Chuback

University of Miami Law Review

Florida Statutes section 381.00316 prohibits businesses in Florida from requiring consumers to provide documentary proof of COVID-19 vaccination to access businesses’ goods and services. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (“NCLH”) has recently challenged section 381.00316’s applicability to its cruise operations because NCLH believes that requiring its passengers to provide documentary proof of COVID-19 vaccination is the one constant that allows NCLH’s cruise ships to smoothly access foreign ports, which have differing COVID-19 protocols and rules. In Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd. v. Rivkees, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled in favor of NCLH on this …

Straight Outta Scotus: Domestic Violence, True Threats, And Free Speech, Jessica Miles

University of Miami Law Review

Domestic violence intersects with constitutional, criminal, and civil law in ways that often present challenges for jurists seeking to reconcile conflicting interests in promoting victim safety and protecting the legal rights of those accused of abuse. One current issue presenting such tensions relates to “true threats” of violence which the U.S. Supreme Court considers to be among the categories of speech receiving only limited First Amendment protection. The Supreme Court has yet to indicate what level of intent would be constitutionally sufficient for conviction of a speaker of a true threat and the circuit courts have split on this issue. …

Bitcoin Is Speech: Notes Toward Developing The Conceptual Contours Of Its Protection Under The First Amendment, Justin S. Wales, Richard J. Ovelmen

University of Miami Law Review

Bitcoin permits users to engage in direct expressive activity with one another without the need for centralized intermediaries. It does so by utilizing an open and community-managed global database called a blockchain. While much of the literature about Bitcoin has focused on its use as a form of digital payment, this Article suggests an expanded understanding by demonstrating its use as a protocol network, not unlike the internet, that can be used to extend the possible range of human expression. After developing an appreciation of the technology, this Article recommends a framework for applying the First Amendment to Bitcoin and …

Compelled Commercial Disclosures: Zauderer’S Application To Non-Misleading Commercial Speech, Alexis Mason

University of Miami Law Review

In 1980, the Supreme Court held that a prohibition on commercial speech is subject to intermediate scrutiny. Roughly five years later, in Zauderer, the Court provided guidance on specific instances in which the government may compel commercial speech. The Court held that a requirement that goods or services disclose “factual and uncontroversial” information is constitutional so long as the requirement is not unduly burdensome, and the requirement is “reasonably related to the State’s interest in preventing deception of consumers.” This holding applied a rational basis standard of review to compelled commercial speech aimed at curing deception of consumers.

Despite …

Drawing The Line: The Jurisprudence Of Non-Consensual Pornography And The Implications Of Kanye West’S Famous Music Video, Karla Utset

University of Miami Law Review

In June 2016, American rapper Kanye West premiered the music video for Famous from his seventh studio album “The Life of Pablo.” West’s Famous music video, inspired by Vincent Desiderio’s painting Sleep, features nude replications of several celebrities lying together on a bed. The cinematography is voyeuristic, with one journalist describing the video as “predatory.” In making and publicizing the infamous music video, West failed to seek and acquire the consent of several of the individuals featured. The production received both considerable praise and backlash from artists, critics, and the celebrities depicted.

This Note discusses the jurisprudence of non-consensual pornography, …

Keynote Address, Justice John Paul Stevens (Ret.)

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Doe V. University Of Michigan: Free Speech On Campus 25 Years Later, Len Niehoff

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Triggering Tinker: Student Speech In The Age Of Cyberharassment, Ari Ezra Waldman

University of Miami Law Review

This essay challenges the common assumption that public schools have limited authority to regulate cyberbullying that originates and takes place off campus. That argument presumes a level of myopia, clarity, and literalism in the law that simply does not exist. First, even assuming it existed, a geographic requirement is an outdated creature of a pre-Internet age. Cyberbullying poses unique challenges to young people, educators, and schools not contemplated when the Court decided its student speech cases. Second, I argue that a campus presence requirement for regulating any kind of off-campus cyberspeech never really existed, so any suggestion to the contrary …

The Limits Of Education Purpose Limitations, Elana Zeide

University of Miami Law Review

While student privacy has been a public issue for half a century, its contours change in response to social norms, technological capabilities, and political ideologies. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) seeks to prevent inaccurate or inappropriate information about students from being incorporated into pedagogical, academic, and employment decisionmaking. It does so by con- trolling who can access education records and, broadly, for what purposes.

New education technologies take advantage of cloud computing and big data analytics to collect and share an unprecedented amount of information about students in class- rooms. Schools rely on outside, often for-profit, entities …

Combatting Institutional Censorship Of College Journalists: The Need For A "Tailored Public Forum" Category To Best Protect Subsidized Student Newspapers, Nicole Comparato

University of Miami Law Review

College journalists are in a unique position. On one hand, they are typical college students, attending classes and cheering on the team at all the big games. On the other, they serve as investigative journalists, revealing the university’s deepest flaws on the front page of their newspaper. These roles should not be mutually exclusive, but at an alarming rate, universities are attempting to rid themselves of bad press by censoring their own campus newspapers.

This Note argues that universities can get away with this because of the current structure of the public forum doctrine. This doctrine determines the extent to …

Censorship By Crying Wolf: Misclassifying Student Speech As Threats, Susan Kruth

University of Miami Law Review

Freedom of expression is at risk at colleges and universities across the country. While campus administrators employ a number of strategies to censor speech they disfavor, this piece explores the trend of justifying censorship and punishment of expression by labeling it a “threat” and citing concerns about safety. In contrast to the kind of speech the Supreme Court has defined as a “true threat,” the expression at issue in the cases discussed here poses no safety risk, comprising political commentary, jokes, and pop culture references. Its punishment both trivializes actual dangers and chills campus discourse. Accordingly, it is imperative that …

A Critical Look At How Top Colleges Are Adjudicating Sexual Assault, Tamara Rice Lave

University of Miami Law Review

This Article examines the procedural protections afforded by the top American colleges and universities. After briefly situating these policies historically, it presents original research on the procedural protections provided by the top twenty universities, top ten liberal arts colleges, and top five historically black colleges as ranked by U.S. News and World Reports. In 2015, university administrators were contacted and asked a series of questions about the rights afforded to students, including the standard of proof, right to an adjudicatory hearing, right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, right to counsel, right to silence, and right to appeal. This Article describes …

Is Social Media The New Era’S “Water Cooler”? #Notifyouareagovernmentemployee, Sabrina Niewialkouski

University of Miami Law Review

Current Free Speech doctrine does not sufficiently protect government employees’ First Amendment rights. There are two major flaws in the test implemented by the Supreme Court in order to find whether the First Amendment protects an employee. First, the Garcetti test, where a government employee loses First Amendment protection if her speech is pursuant to her official duty, is inadequate, overbroad, and should be done away with completely – or at the least interpreted more narrowly. Secondly, the Pickering balancing test is less of a balancing and more of a prioritization of the government’s interests and should be interpreted to …

Nonconsensual Pornography And The First Amendment: A Case For A New Unprotected Category Of Speech, Alix Iris Cohen

University of Miami Law Review

Nonconsensual pornography, or the distribution of sexually graphic images of individuals without their consent, is not illegal at the federal level, nor is it illegal in the majority of states. Failure to pass laws prohibiting nonconsensual pornography, commonly referred to as “revenge porn,” leaves many victims without recourse. Opponents of legislation regulating revenge porn claim that it cannot be banned because it constitutes speech that is protected by the First Amendment. This Comment argues that nonconsensual pornography should be considered an unprotected category of speech, which would enable it to be prohibited without triggering First Amendment concerns. The method of …

Mocking George: Political Satire As "True Threat" In The Age Of Global Terrorism, Lauren Gilbert

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment And Speech-Based Torts: Recalibrating The Balance, Quin S. Landon

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Confederate License Plates At The Constitutional Crossroads: Vanity Plates, Special Registration Organization Plates, Bumper Stickers, Viewpoints, Vulgarity, And The First Amendment, Jack Achiezer Guggenheim, Jed M. Silversmith

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nelson V. Mcclatchy Newspapers: What Happens When Freedom Of The Press Collides With Free Speech?, Adam Horowitz

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Free Speech And The Development Of Liberal Virtues: An Examination Of The Controversies Involving Flag-Burning And Hate Speech, Kenneth D. Ward

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Rights Collide: Reconciling The First Amendment Rights Of Opposing Parties In Civil Litigation, Barbara Arco

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

First Principles And Fair Consideration: The Developing Clash Between The First Amendment And The Constructive Fraudulent Conveyance Laws, Jonathan C. Lipson

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Warning: Television Violence May Be Harmful To Children; But The First Amendment May Foil Congressional Attempts To Legislate Against It, Laura B. Schneider

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Student Religious Expression In School: Is It Religion Or Speech, And Does It Matter, Gilbert A. Holmes

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Of Supervision, Centerfolds, And Censorship: Sexual Harassment, The First Amendment, And The Contours Of Title Vii, Amy Horton

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Corporate Legal Theory Under The First Amendment: Bellotti And Austin, Charles D. Watts Jr.

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.