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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Virtues Of Knowing Less: Justifying Privacy Protections Against Disclosure, Daniel J. Solove
The Virtues Of Knowing Less: Justifying Privacy Protections Against Disclosure, Daniel J. Solove
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This Article develops justifications for protections against the disclosure of private information. An extensive body of scholarship has attacked such protections as anathema to the Information Age, where the free flow of information is championed as a fundamental value. This Article responds to two general critiques of disclosure protections: (1) that they inhibit freedom of speech, and (2) that they restrict information useful for judging others.
Regarding the free speech critique, the Article argues that not all speech is of equal value; speech of private concern is less valuable than speech of public concern. The difficulty, however, is distinguishing between …
Racial Disparities And The Political Function Of Property, Spencer A. Overton
Racial Disparities And The Political Function Of Property, Spencer A. Overton
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Race theorists have noted that racial discrimination has shaped the existing distribution of economic resources, and have used this observation to justify reparations, to defend affirmative action, and to call for other legal changes that would improve the socioeconomic status of people of color. This Article takes the theorists' observation further. Property has a political function. Racially discriminatory allocation rules not only impose economic and social harms upon people of color, but also impair the ability of these people to engage in political expression and participation through structures such as the privately financed campaign finance system.
But Some Are More Equal: Race, Exclusion, And Campaign Finance, Spencer A. Overton
But Some Are More Equal: Race, Exclusion, And Campaign Finance, Spencer A. Overton
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Proposed campaign finance reforms and critiques of current campaign finance jurisprudence are incomplete because campaign finance reformers overlook social and historical realities related to race. This Article uses race as an analytical factor to develop a more comprehensive understanding of campaign finance. Past state-sanctioned discrimination has contributed to current racial disparities in property. Under the current campaign finance system, these disparities in property shape the racial distribution of political influence no less than poll taxes, literacy tests, or at-large electoral districts. Further, seemingly neutral campaign finance doctrine threatens to lead to future racial disparities in the political distribution of societal …