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Constitutional Law

Chicago-Kent College of Law

First Amendment

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The Dark Side Of The Force: The Legacy Of Justice Holmes For First Amendment Jurisprudence, Steven J. Heyman Jan 2011

The Dark Side Of The Force: The Legacy Of Justice Holmes For First Amendment Jurisprudence, Steven J. Heyman

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Modern First Amendment jurisprudence is deeply paradoxical. On one hand, freedom of speech is said to promote fundamental values such as individual self-fulfillment, democratic deliberation, and the search for truth. At the same time, however, many leading decisions protect speech that appears to undermine these values by attacking the dignity and personality of others or their status as full and equal members of the community. In this Article, I explore where this Jekyll-and-Hyde quality of First Amendment jurisprudence comes from. I argue that the American free speech tradition consists of two very different strands: a liberal humanist view that emphasizes …


Free Speech And Human Dignity, Steven J. Heyman Apr 2008

Free Speech And Human Dignity, Steven J. Heyman

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No abstract provided.


Ideological Conflict And The First Amendment, Steven J. Heyman Feb 2003

Ideological Conflict And The First Amendment, Steven J. Heyman

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According to the prevailing view, constitutional interpretation ideally should consist in the development and application of a single, unified set of principles. This Essay challenges this position in the context of free speech jurisprudence. As the constitutional debates of 1787-91 show, the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights did not reflect a single view, but instead were intended to reconcile conflicting views on the proper relationship between liberty and government. In order to obtain the broad support necessary for adoption, the Bill of Rights was deliberately drafted on the level of general principles that could command a consensus. When …


Spheres Of Autonomy: Reforming The Content Neutrality Doctrine In First Amendment Jurisprudence, Steven J. Heyman Feb 2002

Spheres Of Autonomy: Reforming The Content Neutrality Doctrine In First Amendment Jurisprudence, Steven J. Heyman

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In recent decades, the doctrine of content neutrality has become the cornerstone of First Amendment jurisprudence. In the leading case of Police Department v. Mosley (1972), the Supreme Court declared that speech may "never" be regulated because of its content, for that would be "the essence of . . . censorship." If this view were taken literally, however, it would disable government from regulating speech even when necessary to prevent serious injury to individuals or society. In response to this concern, the Court has carved out several exceptions to the neutrality doctrine. Yet the Justices have never succeeded in explaining …


State Supported Speech, Steven J. Heyman Feb 1999

State Supported Speech, Steven J. Heyman

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No abstract provided.


Righting The Balance: An Inquiry Into The Foundations And Limits Of Freedom Of Expression, Steven J. Heyman Feb 1998

Righting The Balance: An Inquiry Into The Foundations And Limits Of Freedom Of Expression, Steven J. Heyman

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Contemporary disputes over the First Amendment often result in deadlock. One side stresses the paramount value of free speech, while the other side points to the harms that particular kinds of speech can cause. It is difficult to see how this impasse can be broken without a more general account of the scope of free expression: a view that integrates both the justifications and the limits of freedom of speech into a coherent whole. This Article makes a start toward developing such a theory. Its central thesis is that freedom of speech is a right that is limited by the …


Note, Content Regulation And The Dimensions Of Free Expression, Steven J. Heyman Feb 1983

Note, Content Regulation And The Dimensions Of Free Expression, Steven J. Heyman

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No abstract provided.