Law Commons^™

The Graduation Prayer Cases: Coercion By Any Other Name, Colin Delaney

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Supreme Court's decision in Lee v. Weisman held clergy- delivered invocations at public-school graduation ceremonies unconstitutional. In the wake of this landmark case, school boards across the country instituted a variety of policies to avoid the establishmentarian attributes fatal to the prayers in Lee. Several Courts of Appeals soon heard cases involving authorities seeking to divorce themselves from speakers and speaker selection, in the apparent belief that school involvement placed the imprimatur of the state on graduation prayer. Yet two facts mark all of the situations challenged to date. First, an agent of the state, the school board, exercised …

Protecting Privacy On The Front Page: Why Restrictions On Commercial Use Of Law Enforcement Records Violate The First Amendment, Jason L. Cagle

Vanderbilt Law Review

An individual is involved in an automobile accident and is arrested for driving under the influence. A few days after being re- leased, he receives several letters in the mail. One is from a chiropractor offering services to treat his injuries. Another is from an alcohol abuse treatment center. Yet another is from an attorney who defends traffic offenses. Each of the solicitors obtained the individual's name and address from publicly available records concerning the incident. The letters are truthful and not misleading, but utilize publicly available information for purely commercial purposes at the expense of the individual's privacy.

Several …

Liberty Of Expression In Ireland And The Need For A Constitutional Law Of Defamation, Sarah Frazier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Judicial and constitutional conservatism have allowed Irish defamation law to remain remarkably close to its English common law origins. But the common law of defamation was not designed for a modem democracy with a free press, and Ireland's libel laws have a profound effect upon freedom of expression. If Ireland is to be a modern democracy, as its constitution asserts that it is, and the European Convention on Human Rights demands, it must protect a core area of free expression in order to allow the press (without the fear of repercussion) to keep the public informed about matters of concern. …