First Amendment Commons^™

Appellate Division, First Department - Parkhouse V. Stringer, Alyssa Dunn

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Talking Chalk: Talking Chalk: Defacing The First Amendment In The Public Forum, Marie A. Failinger

Marie A. Failinger

Over the past few years, protesters have been arrested for chalking messages on public forum sidewalks. This article discusses why such arrests are discriminatory and violate the jurisprudence of, and values behind, the Speech Clause

Building The House On A Weak Foundation: Edenfield V. Fane And The Current State Of The Commercial Speech Doctrine, Dennis William Bishop

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A First Amendment Exception To The "Collateral Bar" Rule: Protecting Freedom Of Expression And The Legitimacy Of Courts, Richard Labunski

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Drink The Cup Of Fury: Funeral Picketing, Public Discourse And The First Amendment, Steven J. Heyman

All Faculty Scholarship

In Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court held that the Westboro Baptist Church had a First Amendment right to picket the funeral of a young soldier killed in Iraq. This decision reinforces a position that has become increasingly prevalent in First Amendment jurisprudence – the view that the state may not regulate public discourse to protect individuals from emotional or dignitary injury. In this Article, I argue that this view is deeply problematic for two reasons: it unduly sacrifices the value of individual personality and it tends to undermine the sphere of public discourse itself by negating the practical and …

The Fourth Estate And The Third Level: Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. V. Federal Communications Commission—Cable Television And Intermediate Scrutiny, R. Stuart Phillips

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Madsen V. Women's Health Center, Inc.: Striking An Unequal Balance Between The Right Of Women To Obtain An Abortion And The Right Of Pro-Life Groups To Freedom Of Expression, Keli N. Osaki

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Riding With The Cops And Cheering For The Robbers:" Employee Speech, Doctrinal Cubbyholes, And The Duty Of Loyalty, Marvin F. Hill Jr., James A. Wright

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Meiklejohn, Monica, & Mutilation Of The Thinking Process, Clay Calvert

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Televised Political Debates And Arkansas Educational Television Commission V. Forbes: Excluding The Public From Public Broadcasting, Joshua Dale

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Aesthetics And Free Speech: Toward A Consistent Content Neutrality Standard For Outdoor Sign Regulation , Brian J. Connolly

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

First Amendment challenges by billboard companies and other sign owners to local sign regulations have become a frequent occurrence in the past thirty years. The stakes are high for both commercial sign owners and local governments. Sign control has emerged as an important front in the environmental protection movement, as it focuses on the visual or scenic quality of the environment. Courts have begun to recognize and accept local governments’ interest in controlling the proliferation of signage as part of their efforts to improve environmental quality, but courts have applied First Amendment doctrine in an inconsistent manner. The courts’ inconsistent …

Constitutional Law—First Amendment And Freedom Of Speech—The Constitutionality Of Arkansas’S Prohibition On Political Robocalls, Caleb J. Norris

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

The note first discusses the pros and cons of robocalls, concluding that certain restrictions on robocalls are desirable. Next, the note examines current constitutional case law governing the issue. Thereafter, the note illustrates how Arkansas's regulation on political robocalls would fail a First Amendment challenge as currently written. Accordingly, the note proposes a revision to the robocall statute that would most likely allow it to pass constitutional review.

The note concludes that the burdens resulting from robocalls are placed upon robocall recipients, opposing political campaigns (especially those that determine not to use them under current law), and unrelated third parties. …

First Amendment Protection For Union Appeals To Consumers, Michael C. Harper

Faculty Scholarship

This article explains why decisions of the National Labor Relations Board under President Obama holding non-picketing secondary appeals to consumers not to be illegal under the National Labor Relations Act were necessary under a 1988 decision of the Supreme Court, Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council. The article also explains why both the Supreme Court decision and the Board’s recent decisions were compelled by the first amendment and could not be based on the language of § 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) of the National Labor Relations Act as interpreted by the Court in other cases. The …

New Technologies And Constitutional Law, Thomas Fetzer, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Of Speech And Sanctions: Toward A Penalty-Sensitive Approach To The First Amendment, Michael Coenen

Journal Articles

Courts confronting First Amendment claims do not often scrutinize the severity of a speaker’s punishment. Embracing a “penalty-neutral” understanding of the free-speech right, these courts tend to treat an individual’s expression as either protected, in which case the government may not punish it at all, or unprotected, in which case the government may punish it to a very great degree. There is, however, a small but important body of “penalty-sensitive” case law that runs counter to the penalty-neutral norm. Within this case law, the severity of a speaker’s punishment affects the merits of her First Amendment claim, thus giving rise …

Electronic Privacy And Employee Speech, Pauline T. Kim

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The boundary between work and private life is blurring as a result of changes in the organization of work and advances in technology. Current privacy law is ill-equipped to address these changes and as a result, employees' privacy in their electronic communications is only weakly protected from employer scrutiny. At the same time, the law increasingly protects certain socially valued forms of employee speech. In particular, collective speech, speech that enforces workplace regulations and speech that deters or reports employer wrong-doing are explicitly protected by law from employer reprisals. These two developments—weak protection of employee privacy and increased protection for …

Judicial Line-Drawing And The Broader Culture: The Case Of Politics And Entertainment, R. George Wright

San Diego Law Review

This article puts in a broader legal and cultural context and critically evaluates Justice Scalia's reluctance to distinguish politics from entertainment or, more precisely, political speech from entertainment speech. Some may think of Justice Scalia's reluctance as the embodiment of judicial modesty or realistic practical wisdom. Others may think of it as an unnecessary expression of relativism or subjectivism that is ominous in its implications. Either way, whether we can appropriately distinguish between entertainment speech and political speech, and then apply appropriately different free speech standards in each case, says much about our status and priorities as a culture. Placing …

Corporate Criticism On The Internet: The Fine Line Between Anonymous Speech And Cybersmear, Scot Wilson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ashcroft V. Free Speech Coalition: How Can Virtual Child Pornography Be Banned Under The First Amendment?, Virginia F. Milstead

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dueling Values: The Clash Of Cyber Suicide Speech And The First Amendment, Thea E. Potanos

Chicago-Kent Law Review

On March 15, 2011, William Melchert-Dinkel, a Minnesota nurse, was convicted of two counts of assisted suicide, based solely on things he said in emails and online chat rooms. This note examines whether cyber speech encouraging suicide, such as Melchert-Dinkel's, should be protected by the First Amendment. States have compelling interests in preserving life, preventing suicide, and protecting vulnerable persons from abuse, and the majority of them have assisted suicide statutes that could be applied to cyber-suicide speech. However, because cyber- suicide speech does not fit neatly into recognized categories of "low-value" or unprotected speech, punishment may be foreclosed by …

Renewing The Chase: The First Amendment, Campaign Advertisements, And The Goal Of An Informed Citizenry, John Stewart Fleming

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Context And Trivia, Samuel Brenner

Michigan Law Review

My academic mantra, writes Professor James C. Foster in the Introduction to BONG HiTS 4 JESUS: A Perfect Constitutional Storm in Alaska's Capital, which examines the history and development of the Supreme Court's decision in Morse v. Frederick, "[is] context, context, context" (p. 2). Foster, a political scientist at Oregon State University, argues that it is necessary to approach constitutional law "by situating the U.S. Supreme Court's ... doctrinal work within surrounding historical context, shorn of which doctrine is reduced to arid legal rules lacking meaning and significance" (p. 1). He seeks to do so in BONG HiTS 4 JESUS …

Is Spam The Rock Of Sisyphus?: Whether The Can-Spam Act And Its Global Counterparts Will Delete Your E-Mail, Amy G. Marino

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Inculcation, Bias, And Viewpoint Discrimination In Public Schools, Lisa Shaw Roy

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Rights, Erwin Chemerinsky

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Raised Eyebrows" Over Satellite Radio: Has Pacifica Met Its Match?, Aurele Danoff

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Free Speech, Kathleen M. Sullivan

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Red Lion And Pacifica: Are They Relics?, L. A. Powe Jr

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Free Expression In A Digital Age, Jack M. Balkin

Pepperdine Law Review

In the twenty-first century, at the very moment that our economic and social lives are increasingly dominated by information technology and information flows, the judge-made doctrines of the First Amendment seem increasingly irrelevant to the key free speech battles of the future. The most important decisions affecting the future of freedom of speech will not occur in constitutional law; they will be decisions about technological design, legislative and administrative regulations, the formation of new business models, and the collective activities of end-users. Moreover, the values of freedom of expression will become subsumed within a larger set of concerns that I …

Can Freedom Of Speech Bear The Twenty-First Century's Weight?, Lillian R. Bevier

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.