Law Commons^™

The Panhandlers’ Dialogue: Are Restrictions On Panhandling Content-Neutral Under The First Amendment?, Jing Zhang

Seventh Circuit Review

One of the defining characteristics of the U.S. Constitution is its guarantee of certain enumerated rights, including the right to free speech. The First Amendment guards against governmental regulations that infringe on the right to free speech. In recent years, local governments across the nation have enacted local laws and ordinances that regulate or prohibit panhandling in certain areas. In Norton v. City of Springfield, the Seventh Circuit reviewed and upheld one such ordinance prohibiting panhandling in the downtown historic areas. The Springfield ordinance defined panhandling as an oral request for immediate donation of money. The downtown historic district …

Mj Still Winning In Chicago: The Seventh Circuit Correctly Holds That Jewel-Osco’S Use Of Michael Jordan’S Likeness In Its Advertisement Constituted Commercial Speech, Michael A. Albert

Seventh Circuit Review

Sometimes businesses advertise offers for particular products or services. In addition to product advertising, businesses frequently engage in “image” advertising, where they promote their brand generally rather than a specific product. Both types of advertising may constitute commercial speech. The U.S. Supreme Court commonly defines commercial speech as “speech that proposes a commercial transaction.” Although the Court has addressed this phrase’s meaning, it has never provided a comprehensive method for determining whether a given expression constitutes commercial speech. As a result, some courts interpret this phrase to apply narrowly in scope, while others find that it can be applied broadly. …

Marriage Solemnization And The First Amendment's Neutrality Principle: Who May Solemnize A Marriage?, Claudia Cortes

Seventh Circuit Review

The most fundamental principle of the Establishment Clause is government neutrality towards religion. Pursuant to this principle of neutrality, the government may accommodate religious beliefs, but it can neither prefer religion over non-religion nor favor certain religious beliefs. In most states, a marriage does not become legal upon the state's mere issuance of a marriage license. Instead, marriage solemnization is required to create a legally recognized marriage. Marriage solemnization refers to a ceremony or a ritual by which two individuals take on their new status as husband and wife as well as to the set of procedures that must be …

Friend Request Pending: Does A Rare Victory Before The Seventh Circuit Mean Sex Offenders Will Finally Receive Fair Treatment From Courts?, Matt Dillinger

Seventh Circuit Review

Sex offender laws have spiraled out of control in recent years. Yet, despite the irrationality and punitive nature of many of these laws, courts have overwhelmingly sided with states in constitutional challenges. However, recent case law suggests that courts may no longer be willing to give states the benefit of the doubt where substantial individual rights are implicated. In Doe v. Prosecutor, Marion County, Indiana, the Seventh Circuit struck down an Indiana law that banned certain registered sex offenders from using social media websites, finding the law facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment. This comment argues that the court …

The Right To Speak With Another's Voice—Why The Seventh Circuit Should Characterize The Right To Record As The Limited Right To Gather Information Under The First Amendment, Prava Palacharla

Seventh Circuit Review

As technology advances, millions of Americans now carry a recording device on their person. The ease with which private conversations can be recorded and disseminated without the permission of the speakers has sparked a backlash of legislation criminalizing the act of recording oral communications. These statutes, in an attempt to defeat an expanding problem, impede an individual's First Amendment right to audio record speech.

The Illinois Eavesdropping Law (IEL), the broadest piece of eavesdropping legislation in the nation, prohibits recording speech, even if that speech was not intended to be private. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the statute's validity …

Tests And Prongs And Factors, Oh My!: An Examination Of The Seventh Circuit's Decision In Doe Ex Rel. Doe V. Elmbrook School District, Jack C. Marshall

Seventh Circuit Review

Interpreting the ten words that make up the Establishment Clause and applying them in the context of public schools has frustrated the U.S. Supreme Court and consequently confused lower courts. The Seventh Circuit's recent opinion in Doe ex rel. Doe v. Elmbrook School District illustrates the quagmire that is modern Establishment Clause jurisprudence.

For years, Elmbrook School District held their high school graduation ceremonies in a nearby church. In 2010, students and parents of children who attended Elmbrook School District filed suit, arguing that holding graduation in a church violates the Establishment Clause. Sitting en banc, the Seventh Circuit held …

United States V. Blagojevich: A Standard Bait And Switch, Timothy J. Letizia

Seventh Circuit Review

In United States v. Blagojevich, the Seventh Circuit addressed the issue of whether the presumption in favor of disclosure of jurors' names had been rebutted. The Seventh Circuit began its analysis by recognizing three bases by which judicial proceeding information is made available to the press and the public: (1) the First Amendment right of access, (2) the common law presumption of openness, and (3) the Jury Selection and Service Act. While each of these bases functions primarily to make information available to the press and public, each also carries its own distinct standard by which the presumption of …

Papa Don't Preach: Badger Catholic V. Walsh Muddies The Line Between Church And State, Nicholas K. Graves

Seventh Circuit Review

Religion's role in government activity marks a contentious area in the legal community. The First Amendment, by its own language, is ambiguous and fails to give true, clear guidance on where a line might be drawn between religion and government. Spirited debate on their coexistence is all but a constant in American society. Enter public education. The edification of American children from kindergarten through higher education has led to furious debate on when and where it is appropriate for religion to enter. In a recent case, Badger Catholic v. Walsh, the Seventh Circuit discussed religion in education in the …

Public Employee Free Speech After Garcetti: Has The Seventh Circuit Been Ignoring A Question Of Fact?, Sarah R. Kaplan

Seventh Circuit Review

Before the United States Supreme Court decided Garcetti v. Ceballos in 2006, courts decided the question whether a public employee's speech was protected by the First Amendment as a matter of law. Courts asked whether the speech addressed a matter of public concern. If it did, then the speech was protected if the employee's interest in exercising her First Amendment rights outweighed the employer's interest in maintaining an efficient workplace. Garcetti introduced a new threshold question: whether the public employee spoke pursuant to her official duties. This seems to introduce a factual question to the public employee free speech inquiry: …

Unraveling Tinker: The Seventh Circuit Leaves Student Speech Hanging By A Thread, Marcia E. Powers

Seventh Circuit Review

In the bedrock student speech case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, the Supreme Court ruled that students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate and that a school cannot prohibit student speech absent a “substantial disruption.” The Supreme Court defined “substantial disruption” as speech that “materially and substantially disrupt[s] the work and discipline of school.” In 2008, the Seventh Circuit adopted a new definition of “substantial disruption” in Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District No. 204, a case where a student challenged his school’s prohibition of the t-shirt slogan “Be Happy, Not …

Payment Finality And Discharge In Funds Transfers, Benjamin Geva

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The article explores the occurrence of "final payment" in funds transfers in the form of "accountability" by a bank instructed to pay to a payee/beneficiary. Both the accountability of the drawee/payor bank in a check-collection debit-pull system and that of the beneficiary's bank in a wire-transfer credit-push system are discussed. The article further examines the relationship between "final payment" and the discharge of an obligation paid by means of the "funds transfer." It analyzes relevant provisions of Articles 3, 4, and 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code, sometimes against the background of general common law principles. The article proposes minor …

Industrial And Competition Policies In Mexico, Eduardo Perez Motta

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Until the 1980s, the Mexican economy was closed and strongly directed and controlled by the central government. However, starting with the second half of this decade and continuing into the 1990s, a marked change in industrial policy sought to create conditions that would open the economy and foster competition and economic efficiency. This process was undertaken by implementing a first generation of reforms, which included policies designed to attain macroeconomic stability, trade openness, and a modernization of the regulatory framework. A second generation of reforms included the application of horizontal instruments, like standardization and metrology; the passing of new laws, …

Speak No Evil? Government Employee Speech Rights In The Seventh Circuit In Light Of Garcetti V. Ceballos, Tracy F. Mendonides

Seventh Circuit Review

The U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Garcetti v. Ceballos that government employees are not protected by the First Amendment for statements made pursuant to their employment duties. The Seventh Circuit applied that holding in Mills v. City of Evansville and suggested that a government employee enjoys no protection for any speech relating to that employee's job responsibilities. This Comment argues that the three-judge panel in Mills erred by failing to consider the analytical guidelines articulated by the Supreme Court and created a rule that is contrary to Supreme Court precedent.

Mayer V. Monroe: The Seventh Circuit Sheds Freedom Of Speech At The Classroom Door, Justin Nemunaitis

Seventh Circuit Review

During a curriculum-specified class discussion of the war in Iraq, a sixth grader asked her teacher, Ms. Mayer, if she would ever march to protest the war. The school dismissed the teacher for answering the student. In Mayer v. Monroe County Community School Corp., the Seventh Circuit ruled that no teacher has the First Amendment right to express an opinion in the classroom. The case inappropriately applied the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Garcetti v. Ceballos decision in a way that overruled previous precedent. This Note will argue that the Seventh Circuit should have followed its earlier decisions by asking …

Gaming The System: The Seventh Circuit Prefers Its Video Games Violent, Not Sexy, Michael J. Aschenbrener

Seventh Circuit Review

The U.S. Supreme Court holds that obscenity warrants no First Amendment protection whereas violent speech garners complete constitutional protection. In Entertainment Software Association v. Blagojevich, et al., the Seventh Circuit struck down two statutes regulating the sale of sexually explicit and violent video games to minors for violating the First Amendment. While the Seventh Circuit correctly applied Supreme Court precedent, it strained to find any logic to support holding the two categories of speech to different levels of protection. Accordingly, this Note will argue that the Supreme Court should grant full First Amendment protection to obscenity. It will also …

The Seventh Circuit Hangs Up On Charitable Rights, Nicholas A.J. Wendland

Seventh Circuit Review

Under Indiana’s Telephone Solicitation of Consumers statute telemarketers are prohibited from calling all households who opt to place their numbers on the statewide do-not-call list. This prohibition exempts charities, as long as they refrain from using professional telemarketing companies, and rely solely on volunteers or in-house employees. For many charities, particularly ones supporting unpopular causes, telemarketing represents the most successful manner in which they can inform people of their goals and raise money. Charitable solicitation has long been recognized as a protected form of free speech, and any restriction on that right protected by constitutional scrutiny. However, in ruling on …

Stop The Presses! Seventh Circuit Censors College Student Media, Julia R. Lissner

Seventh Circuit Review

Can officials at public colleges and universities in the Seventh Circuit censor student speech? How free is the college free press? In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the U.S. Supreme Court permitted high school administrators to censor school-sponsored speech if their actions were supported by "legitimate pedagogical concerns." However, the high court specifically stated that it was not deciding whether the same degree of deference is appropriate with respect to speech in higher education. Thus, this article argues that the Seventh Circuit's application of the Hazelwood standard to assess a student newspaper censorship claim at a Illinois public university …