Law Commons^™

Judges Playing Jury: Constitutional Conflicts In Deciding Fair Use On Summary Judgment, Ned Snow

Faculty Publications

Issues of fair use in copyright cases are usually decided at summary judgment. But it was not always so. For well over a century, juries routinely decided these issues. The law recognized that fair use issues were highly subjective and thereby inherently factual — unfit for summary disposition by a judge. Today, however, all this has been forgotten. Judges are characterizing factual issues as purely legal so that fair use may be decided at summary judgment. Even while judges acknowledge that reasonable minds may disagree on these issues, they characterize the issues as legal, preventing them from ever reaching a …

From One [Expletive] Policy To The Next: The Fcc's Regulation Of "Fleeting Expletives" And The Supreme Court's Response, Brandon J. Almas

Federal Communications Law Journal

After the broadcast of the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, during which the lead singer from U2 uttered an expletive on national television, the FCC revisited its prior policy on the use of expletives on the airwaves and declared, for the first time, that "fleeting expletives" are offensive according to community standards and are therefore finable. In a lawsuit filed in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Fox Television Stations, Inc. along with a number of other broadcasters argued that the FCC's new policy was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act and unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Second …

Twittering Away The Right Of Publicity: Personality Rights And Celebrity Impersonation On Social Networking Websites, Andrew M. Jung

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Within the past couple of years, social networking websites have become an immensely popular destination for people from all walks of life. Websites like Facebook and Twitter now count tens of millions of worldwide users, including world leaders and a number of celebrities. Eventually, users realized that social networking websites lent themselves to the quick and easy impersonation of celebrities through the creation of fake social networking accounts, often as a form of parody. One subject of such impersonation was professional baseball manager Tony La Russa, who took the then-unprecedented step of suing his impersonators and Twitter over the incident. …

Copyright And The First Amendment: Comrades, Combatants Or Uneasy Allies?, Joseph P. Bauer

Joseph P. Bauer

The copyright regime and the First Amendment seek to promote the same goals. Both seek the creation and dissemination of more, better and more diverse literary, pictorial, musical and other works. But, they use significantly different means to achieve those goals. The copyright laws afford to the creator of a work the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, transform and perform that work for a extended period of time. The First Amendment, on the other hand, proclaims that Congress “shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech or of the press,” thus at least nominally indicating that limitations on …

The Corporatization Of Communication, Eric Chiappinelli, Adam Candeub, Jeffrey Chester, Lawrence Soley

Lawrence Soley

Our next panel discusses the corporatization of communication.

The First Amendment Degraded: Milkovich V. Lorain And A Continuing Sense Of Loss On Its 20th Birthday, Richard H. Weisberg

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Exemption Or Exceptionalism? Exploring The Tension Of First Amendment Religion Protections & Civil Rights Progress Within The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Richael Faithful

Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The District of Columbia (D.C.) marked a landmark civil rights achievement in December 2009 when the city passed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act. The law’s enactment allowed D.C. to become the sixth jurisdiction to sanction same-sex marriage in the United States. Supporters hailed the law as a victory for lesbian and gay equality, while detractors vowed that their efforts to traditionally define marriage would continue.

Among the most public opponents of the law was the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, which operates Catholic Charities, a leading service provider to low-income residents in the metropolitan area. The Catholic …

Can Google-Tv Help Liberate Cable-Tv?, Erik Ugland

Erik Ugland

No abstract provided.

The Scarlet "L": Lobbying Reform And The First Amendment, Mona Sheth

Legislation and Policy Brief

While the enactment of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA) in Congress shifted the lobbying industry towards heightened transparency and stronger ethics, future reforms of the executive branch threatened the constitutional rights of lobbyists. As the following pages summarize, the collective forces of the 2008 presidential campaign, executive ethics order, and stimulus restrictions also endangered the success of the congressional response. An examination of the Obama Administration’s executive directives and an exploration of the constitutional issues implicated in the ARRA guidance on stimulus funds reveal that disclosure and enforcement are more effective (and constitutional) methods to …

Draft Of Beck Lecture - 2010, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

I am grateful to the wonderful BU community that has taught me so much, and to those who made this event possible. I thank Dean O'Rourke for hosting this wonderful event, Mary Gallagher, Cornell Stinson and Erin Elwood for organizing it, and I thank you all for coming. I am honored to follow Bill Ryckman in the Chair, a man I admire. Most especially I thank Phil Beck for his generosity to the Boston University School of Law in funding this Chair. It's flattering to me having been chosen its recipient, and flattering to the school that Phil chose us …

Déjà Vu: From Comic Books To Video Games: Legislative Reliance On “Soft Science” To Protect Against Uncertain Societal Harm Linked To Violence V. The First Amendment, Terri R. Day, Ryan C.W. Hall M.D.

Terri R. Day

This article discusses the weaknesses and limitations of social science evidence to prove that the virtual world of violent video games causes any real world harm. The Supreme Court, in its next term, will consider the constitutionality of California’s ban on the sale and rental of violent video games to minors. The controversy on violent video games is the latest legislative attempt to ban access and distribution of violent materials to children, reminiscent of the comic books debate over sixty years ago. This paper goes beyond a discussion of the First Amendment obstacles to violent video game restrictions. It focuses …

Déjà Vu: From Comic Books To Video Games: Legislative Reliance On “Soft Science” To Protect Against Uncertain Societal Harm Linked To Violence V. The First Amendment, Terri R. Day, Ryan Cw Hall M.D.

Terri R. Day

This article discusses the weaknesses and limitations of social science evidence to prove that the virtual world of violent video games causes any real world harm. The Supreme Court, in its next term, will consider the constitutionality of California’s ban on the sale and rental of violent video games to minors. The controversy on violent video games is the latest legislative attempt to ban access and distribution of violent materials to children, reminiscent of the comic books debate over sixty years ago. This paper goes beyond a discussion of the First Amendment obstacles to violent video game restrictions. It focuses …

Déjà Vu: From Comic Books To Video Games: Legislative Reliance On “Soft Science” To Protect Against Uncertain Societal Harm Linked To Violence V. The First Amendment, Terri R. Day, Ryan C.W. Hall M.D.

Terri R. Day

This article discusses the weaknesses and limitations of social science evidence to prove that the virtual world of violent video games causes any real world harm. The Supreme Court, in its next term, will consider the constitutionality of California’s ban on the sale and rental of violent video games to minors. The controversy on violent video games is the latest legislative attempt to ban access and distribution of violent materials to children, reminiscent of the comic books debate over sixty years ago. This paper goes beyond a discussion of the First Amendment obstacles to violent video game restrictions. It focuses …

A First Amendment Theory For Protecting Attorney Speech, Margaret C. Tarkington

Margaret C Tarkington

In June 2010, the United States Supreme Court held that Congress could constitutionally prohibit attorneys from providing legal assistance and advice regarding lawful nonviolent conduct to groups that the Secretary of State has designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The plaintiffs wished to assist two FTOs invoke international human rights law, petition the United Nations and United States Congress, and peacefully resolve their disputes. The Supreme Court held that the statute clearly prohibited plaintiffs’ proposed activities, but did not violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment because the attorneys could still engage in “independent advocacy” of any message …

Déjà Vu: From Comic Books To Video Games: Legislative Reliance On “Soft Science” To Protect Against Uncertain Societal Harm Linked To Violence V. The First Amendment, Terri R. Day, Ryan C.W. Hall Dr.

Terri R. Day

This article discusses the weaknesses and limitations of social science evidence to prove that the virtual world of violent video games causes any real world harm. The Supreme Court, in its next term, will consider the constitutionality of California’s ban on the sale and rental of violent video games to minors. The controversy on violent video games is the latest legislative attempt to ban access and distribution of violent materials to children, reminiscent of the comic books debate over sixty years ago. This paper goes beyond a discussion of the First Amendment obstacles to violent video game restrictions. It focuses …

Antisemitism In The Academic Voice: Confronting Bigotry Under The First Amendment, Kenneth Lasson

Kenneth Lasson

Among the abuses of the academic enterprise that have been taking place in American universities over the past several decades, and continue to this day, are failures of intellectual rigor: the abandonment of reliance on facts, common sense, and logic in the pursuit of narrow political agendas – which all too often presented in the academic voice. Students today increasingly find themselves confronted by curricula manipulated by scholarly extremists. While the number of overt antisemitic incidents has declined markedly in the United States over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in anti-Zionist rhetoric and activity on …

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

Steven J. Heyman

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 …

Neoformalism And The Reemergence Of The Rights/Privilege Distinction In Public Employment Law, Paul Secunda

Paul M. Secunda

The First Amendment speech rights of public employees, which have traditionally enjoyed protection under the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions, have suddenly diminished in recent years. At one time developed to shut the door on the infamous privilege/rights distinction, the unconstitutional conditions doctrine has now been increasingly used to rob these employees of their constitutional rights.

Three interrelated developments explain this state of affairs. First, a jurisprudential school of thought – the “subsidy school” – has significantly undermined the vitality of the unconstitutional conditions doctrine through its largely successful sparring with an alternative school of thought, the “penalty school.” Second, although …

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

Steven J. Heyman

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 injure 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 the Jekyll-and-Hyde quality of First Amendment jurisprudence comes from. I argue that the American free speech tradition actually consists of two very different strands: a liberal humanist view that …

Foreword: Our Paradoxical Religion Clauses, Mark A. Graber

Mark Graber

No abstract provided.

A Justified Assault Upon The Citadel Of Privity And The First Amendment, Joseph G. Bunn Esq.

Joseph G Bunn Esq.

The active involvement of credit rating agencies (“CRAs”) in the structured finance market and the recent financial crisis is an adequate basis for investors to pursue claims against CRAs for negligent misrepresentation. Traditionally, CRAs have qualified for protection from suit by investors under the privity doctrine and under the First Amendment. CRAs qualified for protection under the privity doctrine because CRAs are not typically in a contractual relationship with investors who utilize their ratings. CRAs qualified for protection under the First Amendment because courts viewed their ratings as “speech” regarding public matters. However, this dual protection is limited in certain …

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

Steven J. Heyman

Modern First Amendment jurisprudence is deeply paradoxical in nature. 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 decisions protect speech that appears to harm these values by attacking the dignity and personality of other people or their status as full and equal members of the community. In this Article, I explore where this Jekyll-and-Hyde quality comes from. I argue that the American free speech tradition actually consists of two very different strands: a liberal humanist view that emphasizes the …

Teaching In A Democracy: Why The Garcetti Rule Should Apply To Teaching In Public Schools, Paul Forster

Paul Forster

This article examines an important yet unsettled First Amendment issue—whether the rule of Garcetti v. Ceballos should extend to teaching in public schools. In Garcetti, the Supreme Court held that when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, they are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline. Yet the Court expressly declined to decide whether this principle should extend to “scholarship or teaching,” leaving lower courts to decide the issue for now. Despite the large number of publicly employed teachers and professors, lower courts have yet …

Democracy At The Corner Of First And Fourteenth: Judicial Campaign Spending And Equality, James Sample

James Sample

This Article posits that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., Inc., which recognized that substantial independent expenditures in support of a judicial candidate present threats to judicial impartiality similar to those posed by direct contributions, suggests that guaranteeing due process of law in state courts presents a compelling state interest justifying the regulation of spending in judicial elections.

The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo is understood to hold that only an “anti-corruption” rationale can justify campaign finance regulations, and to draw a rigid distinction between political campaign “expenditures” and “contributions,” holding …

When The Exception Becomes The Rule: Marsh And Sectarian Legislative Prayer Post-Summum, Scott W. Gaylord

Scott W. Gaylord

Across the country, federal, state, and local legislative bodies begin their meetings with prayer. Yet, as recent challenges to sectarian legislative prayer demonstrate, legislative prayer rests uneasily at the intersection of the Free Speech and Establishment Clauses. While the government has the right to speak for itself, many contend that it is precluded from engaging in paradigmatic religious activity, such as sectarian prayer. As a result, although legislative prayer has been part of the “fabric of our society” since at least the First Continental Congress, sectarian prayer teeters on the brink of unconstitutionality.

Despite the pervasiveness of legislative prayer and …

The New Digitial Dating Behavior - Sexting: Teens' Explicit Love Letters: Criminal Justice Or Civil Liability, Terri R. Day

Terri R. Day

The New Digital Dating Behavior – Sexting: Teens’ Explicit Love Letters: Criminal Justice or Civil Liability proposes a unique response to the explosive combination of teens, sex and technology. This paper discusses why most teen sexting does not meet the Ferber definition of child pornography; therefore, a civil remedy for the dignitary and emotional harm caused by the public dissemination of private sexual pictures is far superior to imposing criminal sanctions. The proposed statutory civil cause of action would hold parents vicariously liable for the harms caused by their children’s sexting when done with actual malice. Recognizing that common law …

The New Digitial Dating Behavior - Sexting: Teens' Explicit Love Letters: Criminal Justice Or Civil Liability, Terri R. Day

Terri R. Day

The New Digital Dating Behavior – Sexting: Teens’ Explicit Love Letters: Criminal Justice or Civil Liability proposes a unique response to the explosive combination of teens, sex and technology. This paper discusses why most teen sexting does not meet the Ferber definition of child pornography; therefore, a civil remedy for the dignitary and emotional harm caused by the public dissemination of private sexual pictures is far superior to imposing criminal sanctions. The proposed statutory civil cause of action would hold parents vicariously liable for the harms caused by their children’s sexting when done with actual malice. Recognizing that common law …

The New Digitial Dating Behavior - Sexting: Teens' Explicit Love Letters: Criminal Justice Or Civil Liability, Terri R. Day

Terri R. Day

The New Digital Dating Behavior – Sexting: Teens’ Explicit Love Letters: Criminal Justice or Civil Liability proposes a unique response to the explosive combination of teens, sex and technology. This paper discusses why most teen sexting does not meet the Ferber definition of child pornography; therefore, a civil remedy for the dignitary and emotional harm caused by the public dissemination of private sexual pictures is far superior to imposing criminal sanctions. The proposed statutory civil cause of action would hold parents vicariously liable for the harms caused by their children’s sexting when done with actual malice. Recognizing that common law …

Essay: Constitutional Commitments And Religious Identity, Bernadette Meyler

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This essay comments on Steve Shiffrin's The Religious Left and Church-State Relations. It contends, on the one hand, that Shiffrin has valuably brought to the fore various reasons why religious believers might resist close relations between church and state. On the other hand, it argues that no fundamental connection exists between the "religious Left" and a particular position on church-state relations and that religious liberals will not necessarily be more persuasive than secular liberals in arguing against positions espoused by religious conservatives.

The First Amendment’S Religion Clauses: The Calvinist Document That Interprets Them Both, Leah Farish Esq.

College of Arts and Cultural Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

This paper suggests that the Westminster Confession of Faith's provisions about church and state, revised in Philadelphia at the start of the Constitution's ratifying convention, furnished much of the syntax and vocabulary for the First Amendment's religion clauses. Recognizing the cultural links between the new American government and the Presbyterian Church, the author argues that it was natural for the founders to look to how the new Westminster Confession situated church and state. The author argues that Fisher Ames's proposed wording for the First Amendment won immediate adoption because it resonated with the Confession, standing as it did in that …