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Full-Text Articles in Law

Fighting Words Today, R. George Wright Jun 2022

Fighting Words Today, R. George Wright

Pepperdine Law Review

For some time, the familiar free speech exception known as the “fighting words” doctrine has been subject to severe judicial and scholarly critique. It turns out, though, that the fighting words doctrine, in general, is neither obsolete nor in need of radical limitation. The traditionally neglected “inflict injury” prong of the fighting words doctrine can and should be vitalized, with only a minimal loss, if not an actual net gain, in promoting the basic purposes of freedom of speech in the first place. And the “reactive violence” prong can and should be relieved of its historic biases and dubious assumptions. …


All For One, And One For All-Comers! University Nondiscrimination Policies In Light Of Hosanna-Tabor And The Ministerial Exception, Zach Tafoya Jan 2014

All For One, And One For All-Comers! University Nondiscrimination Policies In Light Of Hosanna-Tabor And The Ministerial Exception, Zach Tafoya

Pepperdine Law Review

In light of the more recent Hosanna-Tabor decision, this Comment seeks to answer these questions by extending the reasoning behind the ministerial exception to the university context in order to build a foundation upon which a future exception can be built to ensure that religious student groups are sufficiently free to choose their own leaders. Part II sets forth a brief history of the ministerial exception and its application in the circuit courts. Part III addresses two recent Supreme Court cases, Martinez and Hosanna-Tabor, and their practical effect on religious liberty, as well as the public’s perception of both cases. …


Losing The Struggle To Define The Proper Balance Between The Law Of Defamation And The First Amendment - Gertz V. Robert Welch, Inc.: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, Douglas B. Large, Kristopher Kallman May 2013

Losing The Struggle To Define The Proper Balance Between The Law Of Defamation And The First Amendment - Gertz V. Robert Welch, Inc.: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, Douglas B. Large, Kristopher Kallman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Defining The Lifeblood: The Search For A Sensible Ministerial Exception Test, Summer E. Allen Apr 2013

Defining The Lifeblood: The Search For A Sensible Ministerial Exception Test, Summer E. Allen

Pepperdine Law Review

Over the past 40 years, the circuit courts have acknowledged a ministerial exception to Title VII and other anti-discrimination laws that gives churches the freedom to determine who serves in ministerial roles as a voice of a church’s faith. In January of 2012, the Supreme Court officially adopted the exception into its jurisprudence. The opinion, however, left many questions unanswered. Mainly, the decision failed to give any guidance to lower courts regarding who is and who is not a minister. This article traces the history of the ministerial exception and the church autonomy doctrine back to the Religion Clauses in …


How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sharia? Awad V. Ziriax And The Question Of Sharia Law In America, Jeremy Grunert Apr 2013

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sharia? Awad V. Ziriax And The Question Of Sharia Law In America, Jeremy Grunert

Pepperdine Law Review

In the 2010 midterm elections, the citizens of Oklahoma passed a ballot initiative barring Oklahoma courts from considering the tenets of Islamic Sharia law in their judicial decisions. This initiative was passed in the midst of a nation-wide debate on the nature of Sharia law, in which numerous states began to take legislative steps to ban or limit the application of Sharia. Oklahoma’s law was the first to explicitly ban Sharia, and it was immediately challenged by a Muslim plaintiff for violating the Constitution’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. This Article examines the resulting case, Awad v. Ziriax, and the …


Journalists, Trespass, And Officials: Closing The Door On Florida Publishing Co. V. Fletcher , Kent R. Middleton Jan 2013

Journalists, Trespass, And Officials: Closing The Door On Florida Publishing Co. V. Fletcher , Kent R. Middleton

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Hustler Magazine, Inc. V. Falwell: Laugh Or Cry, Public Figures Must Learn To Live With Satirical Criticism , James R. Laguzza Jan 2013

Hustler Magazine, Inc. V. Falwell: Laugh Or Cry, Public Figures Must Learn To Live With Satirical Criticism , James R. Laguzza

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Thornburgh V. Abbott: Slamming The Prison Gates On Constitutional Rights, Megan M. Mcdonald Jan 2013

Thornburgh V. Abbott: Slamming The Prison Gates On Constitutional Rights, Megan M. Mcdonald

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Texas V. Johnson: The Constitutional Protection Of Flag Desecration, Patricia Lofton Jan 2013

Texas V. Johnson: The Constitutional Protection Of Flag Desecration, Patricia Lofton

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Neutrality And The Good Of Religious Freedom: An Appreciative Response To Professor Koppelman, Richard W. Garnett Jan 2013

Neutrality And The Good Of Religious Freedom: An Appreciative Response To Professor Koppelman, Richard W. Garnett

Pepperdine Law Review

This paper is a short response to an address, “And I Don’t Care What It Is: Religious Neutrality in American Law,” delivered by Prof. Andrew Koppelman at a conference, “The Competing Claims of Law and Religion: Who Should Influence Whom?”, which was held at Pepperdine University in February of 2012. In this response, it is suggested – among other things – that “American religious neutrality” is, as Koppelman argues, “coherent and attractive” because and to the extent that it is not neutral with respect to the goal and good of religious freedom. Religious freedom, in the American tradition, is not …


Can We Please Stop Talking About Neutrality? Koppelman Between Scalia And Rawls, Chad Flanders Jan 2013

Can We Please Stop Talking About Neutrality? Koppelman Between Scalia And Rawls, Chad Flanders

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


And I Don’T Care What It Is: Religious Neutrality In American Law, Andrew Koppelman Jan 2013

And I Don’T Care What It Is: Religious Neutrality In American Law, Andrew Koppelman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.