First Amendment Commons^™

The Concept Of Religion, Eduardo M. Peñalver

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Section 5: Speech And Elections, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Holocaust Denial And The First Amendment: The Quest For Truth In A Free Society, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

From the ashes of the Holocaust we have come once again to learn the terrible truth, that the power of Evil cannot be underestimated. Nor can the effect of the spoken and written word. It has been but a half-century since the liberation of Nazi death camps, a little more than a decade since the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Human Rights, and a few short years since the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum first put on display its documentation of horror. Yet today that form of historical revisionism popularly called "Holocaust denial" abounds worldwide in all its …

Constitutional Law—Freedom Of Speech. No Longer That Crazy Aunt In The Basement, Commercial Speech Joins The Family. 44 Liquormart, Inc. V. Rhode Island, 116 S. Ct. 1495 (1996)., Jo-Jo Baldwin

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

First Principles And Fair Consideration: The Developing Clash Between The First Amendment And The Constructive Fraudulent Conveyance Laws, Jonathan C. Lipson

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Antidisestablishmentarianism: Why Rfra Really Was Unconstitutional, Jed Rubenfeld

Michigan Law Review

Two months ago, the Supreme Court struck down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), handing down its most important church-state decision, and one of its most important federalism decisions, in fifty years. Through RFRA, Congress had prohibited any state actor from "substantially burden[ing] a person's exercise of religion" unless imposing that burden was the "least restrictive means" of furthering "a compelling governmental interest." RFRA was a response to Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, in which the Supreme Court abandoned the very same compelling interest test that RFRA mandated. Smith, overturning decades-old precedent, held …

The Role Of Religion In Public Life And Official Pressure To Participate In Alcoholics Anonymous, Paul E. Salamanca

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

If religion is an innate aspect of the human experience, it should not be surprising that Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a widely known and arguably religious support group for problem drinkers, has become a common and effective means of combating alcoholism. Also, it should not be surprising that probation officers, parole officers, judges, bar overseers, wardens, and myriad others exercising state authority routinely push individuals toward A.A. Arguably, however, official referral of problem drinkers to A.A. violates current interpretations of the Establishment Clause because of the quasi-religious nature of the program.

Although separationism helps both church and state, our Constitution does, …

Regulatory Web: Free Speech And The Global Information Infrastructure, A, Victor Mayer-Schönberger, Teree E. Foster

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

National restrictions of freedom of speech on the nascent global information infrastructure are commonplace not only in the United States, but also around the globe. Individual nations, each intent upon preserving what they perceive to be within the perimeters of their national interests, seek to regulate certain forms of speech because of content that is considered reprehensible or offensive to national well-being or civic virtue. The fact that this offending speech is technologically dispersed instantaneously to millions of potential recipients strengthens the impetus to regulate.... Activists at both ends of the spectrum disregard an integral aspect of the global composition …

Outtakes, Hidden Cameras, And The First Amendment: A Reporter's Privilege, Alison Lynn Tuley

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Free Exercise Thereof, Stephen L. Carter

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating Sexually Oriented Businesses: The Regulatory Uncertainties Ofa "Regime Of Prohibition By Indirection" And The Obscenity Doctrine's Communal Solution, Daniel J. Mcdonald

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Concern With Public Concern: Toward A Better Definition Of The "Pickering / Connick" Threshold Test, Karin B. Hoppmann

Vanderbilt Law Review

The term "public employer" is something of a legal oxymoron. Although the law has established a jurisprudence for the employer, consisting of a network of state and federal statutory requirements,' and a jurisprudence for the governmental body, governed by the Constitution, the public employer belongs to neither of these. It is an entity that functions as a private business, charged with maintaining an efficient and productive workplace. It is constantly under pres- sure to improve performance, and it is just as concerned with discipline, morale, and efficiency as any private employer. Yet it is also part of the sovereign and …

Guns, Words, And Constitutional Interpretation, L. A. Powe Jr.

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Que, Ya No Hablan Ingles En Este Pais?: A Look At The Constitutionality Of English Only Provisions Under The Free Speech Clause Of The First Amendment, John J. Louizos

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Combatting Slapps: Absolutism Is Not The Answer, Daniel O. Conkle

Federal Communications Law Journal

Book Review: SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out, by George W. Pring and Penelope Canan, Temple University Press, 1996, 279 pages.

Lemon Is A Lemon: Toward A Rational Interpretation Of The Establishment Clause, Thomas C. Marks Jr., Michael Bertolini

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Restoring Rights To Rites: The Religious Motivation Test And The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Steven C. Seeger

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the religious motivation test best secures the religious liberty guaranteed by the Constitution and the RFRA. Part I examines the text and legislative history of the Act and establishes that Congress intended to protect religiously motivated practices. Part II argues that the free exercise case law prior to Smith, to which the RFRA explicitly appeals, did not require litigants to prove centrality or compulsion. Part III demonstrates that the religious motivation test protects the full spectrum of religious practices and religious groups, unlike the centrality test and the compulsion test. Part IV illustrates that the motivation …

44 Liquormart, Inc. V. Rhode Island: The Supreme Court Overturns A Ban On Liquor Price Advertising, Laura Harrison

Mercer Law Review

In 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, two licensed liquor retailers brought suit against the Rhode Island Liquor Control Administrator to challenge the First Amendment validity of state statutes that banned the price advertising of alcoholic beverages. In a unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court overturned the ban, a judgment which may render similar restrictions unconstitutional.

The Casey Standard For Evaluating Facial Attacks On Abortion Statutes, John Christopher Ford

Michigan Law Review

Since the Supreme Court declared in 1973 that the Constitution grants women a limited right to an abortion, the Justices have decided abortion cases with reference to such weighty matters as religious freedom, the disadvantaged position of women in society, and the proper role of the judiciary. Understandably, the Supreme Court's writings on abortion deal extensively with these large themes. The Court, and certainly others, view abortion cases as rivaling Brown v. Board of Education in their importance to the nation. While the Court has focused on the big issues, however, it has neglected an equally important, if less emotionally …

How Far Is Too Far? The Line Between "Offensive" And "Indecent" Speech, Milagros Rivera-Sanchez

Federal Communications Law Journal

Defining "indecency" in the context of radio broadcast seems quite a chore. While the Federal Communications Commission has struggled to set fbrth workable guidelines for "indecency," a great deal of uncertainty continues to surround broadcasters. Recognizing this confusion, the article surveys indecency complaints which were made to the FCC between 1989 and 1995 and eventually dismissed. An analysis of cases which the FCC fbund "not actionably indecent" helps delineate the FCC's decency standard. Dismissed cases are also compared and contrasted with cases in which the FCC took action against a broadcaster

Is There A Right To View The Dead At Dover - Jb Pictures V. Department Of Defense: Limits On The Media's Right To Gather Information, Scott A. Macnair

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment In The Supreme Court: The Future Lies Ahead, Joel Gora

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Policing Hatred: Police Bias Units And The Construction Of Hate Crime, Jeannine Bell

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Much of the scholarly debate about hate crime laws focuses on a discussion of their constitutionality under the First Amendment. Part of a larger empirical study of police methods of investigating hate crimes, this Note attempts to shift thinking in this area beyond the existing debate over the constitutionality of hate crime legislation to a discussion of how low-level criminal justice personnel, such as the police, enforce hate crime laws. This Note argues that, since hate crimes are an area in which police have great discretion in enforcing the law, their understanding of the First Amendment and how it relates …

The Christian Coalition And The End Game, Norman R. Gulley

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Personal Use Principle Under Copyright Law, Hsin-Chih Cheng

LLM Theses and Essays

Personal use is when an individual uses a copyrighted work for private purposes, such as learning or entertainment. Personal use is a right given in the Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution, however, an issue arises when the individual wants to make a copy of the copyrighted work. New technologies like photocopying and videotaping make this issue more prominent today. Some copyright owners think that the individual’s copying for private use is harmful to their potential market and they argue for compensation. Does the individual have the right under the personal use principle to reproduce the copyrighted work for private …

Fair Use In American And Continental Laws, Omar M.A. Obeidat

LLM Theses and Essays

Intellectual property, unlike tangible property, does not exclusively occupy one place at a designated time. Instead, intellectual property is composed of information which can be reproduced or used in multiple places at any given time. This fundamental difference between intellectual and tangible property is reflected in the legal provisions that regulate these types of property. There are two dominant theories that justify the legal protection of intellectual property: the individualistic European approach, and the commercial Anglo-American approach. Under the European approach, the protection of the creation is a natural right guaranteed to the author. In other words, natural law guarantees …

Permissible Accommodation Of Religion And The Alternative Burden, Ei Ichiro Takahata

LLM Theses and Essays

In this thesis, the author discusses the extent to which the government can afford to give accommodation within the limits of the Establishment Clause. In Chapter II, the author reviews the theory of the permissible accommodation referred to in the Supreme Court of the United States. In Chapter III, the author examines scholarly debates on the accommodation. Then, the author discusses German and Japanese law of the accommodation in Chapter IV. There, those cases suggest the possibility of alternative burdens on religious believers. The alternative burdens are considered the price of the accommodation. The author concludes that the government has …

Children's Rights Vs. Adult Free Speech: Can They Be Reconciled, Loftus Becker

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Gravity: A Unitary Theory Of Alternative Dispute Resolution And Public Civil Justice, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

It is often said that America's founding was an experiment in government. Certainly few features of the American constitutional settlement left more to future chance--and were more of a break with existing European patterns--than the Establishment Clause set out in the First Amendment. The new Republic sought to rely on transcendent principles to justify its unpre-cedented advancements in human liberty. Concurrently, the Founders reject ed any official or fixed formulation of these principles, for no public credo was to be established by law. So it is more than just a little ironic that the nation's most cherished human rights depend …

Reinvigorating Autonomy: Freedom And Responsibility In The Supreme Court's First Amendment Jurisprudence, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article explores the conception of autonomy that scholars have generally attributed to the Court and discusses problems with that conception. Part II sets forth an alternative, Kantian conception of autonomy and discusses its implications for a system of laws regulating free expression. Part III analyzes the Court's free speech jurisprudence and its autonomy rationale. It specifically examines both the Court's distinction between content-based and content-neutral regulations of speech and its approach to low-value speech, demonstrating that they reflect a Kantian notion of autonomy. Finally, Part IV discusses the implications of Kantian autonomy for hate speech regulation, …