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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Fragility Of The Free American Press, Ronnell Andersen Jones, Sonja R. West Dec 2017

The Fragility Of The Free American Press, Ronnell Andersen Jones, Sonja R. West

Northwestern University Law Review

President Donald Trump has faced criticism for attacking the press and for abandoning longstanding traditions of accommodating and respecting it. This Essay argues that the national discussion spurred by Trump’s treatment of the press has fallen short of capturing the true seriousness of the situation. Trump’s assault on the custom of press accommodation follows a generation-long collapse of other major press protections. In order to fully understand the critical juncture at which American press freedom now stands, we must expand the discussion beyond talk of a rogue president’s aberrant attacks on the press and consider the increasingly fragile edifice on …


A Critical Perspective On Scalian-Originalism’S Interpretation Of The First Amendment’S Freedom Of Speech Clause, Shiela M. Hawkins May 2017

A Critical Perspective On Scalian-Originalism’S Interpretation Of The First Amendment’S Freedom Of Speech Clause, Shiela M. Hawkins

Masters Theses

Justice Antonin Scalia proudly proclaimed that he was an Originalist, which is the theory that the Constitution should be interpreted in the same manner as those who ratified and drafted the document would have interpreted it. Scalian-Originalism faced several liberal legal critiques that challenged the legitimacy of the method and theory. This manuscript seeks to further the debate regarding Scalian-Originalism’s interpretation of the First Amendment by applying a Critical Legal perspective. The analysis is done in the form of an immanent critique, and examines the legitimacy of Scalian-Originalism’s First Amendment interpretation by the theory’s ability to further equality and democratic …


The “Sovereigns Of Cyberspace” And State Action: The First Amendment’S Application (Or Lack Thereof) To Third-Party Platforms, Jonathan Peters Jan 2017

The “Sovereigns Of Cyberspace” And State Action: The First Amendment’S Application (Or Lack Thereof) To Third-Party Platforms, Jonathan Peters

Scholarly Works

Many scholars have commented that the state action doctrine forecloses use of the First Amendment to constrain the policies and practices of online service providers. But few have comprehensively studied this issue, and the seminal article exploring “[c]yberspace and the [s]tate [a]ction [d]ebate” is fifteen years old, published before the U.S. Supreme Court reformulated the federal approach to state action. It is important to give the state action doctrine regular scholarly attention, not least because it is increasingly clear that “the private sector has a shared responsibility to help safeguard free expression.” It is critical to understand whether the First …