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Full-Text Articles in Law
#I U: Considering The Context Of Online Threats, Lyrissa Lidsky
#I U: Considering The Context Of Online Threats, Lyrissa Lidsky
Faculty Publications
The United States Supreme Court has failed to grapple with the unique interpretive difficulties presented by social media threats cases. Social media make hateful and threatening speech more common but also magnify the potential for a speaker's innocent words to be misunderstood People speak differently on different social media platforms, and architecturalf eatures ofplatforms, such as character limits, affect the meaning of speech. The same is true of other contextual clues unique to social media, such as gifs, hashtags, and emojis. Only by understanding social media contexts can legal decision-makers avoid overcriminalization of speech protected by the First Amendment. This …
Free Speech Hypocrisy: Campus Free Speech Conflicts And The Sub-Legal First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Free Speech Hypocrisy: Campus Free Speech Conflicts And The Sub-Legal First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
This Article is modest in scope. It seeks primarily to illuminate the role of free speech conflicts, especially those involving contentious speech, within the Court's jurisprudence, and to illustrate how arguments characterizing the protestors' speech as censorship misperceive the important role such conflicts play. Using both the Court's doctrinal framework and conflict resolution literature, this article attempts to bring deeper understanding to the purposes for the Court's approach, the context underlying the current conflicts, and the flaws underlying the argument that the protestors' actions are censorial. Part I briefly reviews three illustrative free speech conflicts at the University of Missouri, …
When Teachers Go Viral: Balancing Institutional Efficacy Against The First Amendment Rights Of Public Educators In The Age Of Facebook, Watt Lesley Black Jr.
When Teachers Go Viral: Balancing Institutional Efficacy Against The First Amendment Rights Of Public Educators In The Age Of Facebook, Watt Lesley Black Jr.
Missouri Law Review
How can public school administrators reach legally and ethically defensible decisions in cases as widely divergent as Keith Allison and Karen Fitzgibbons? How can they protect the efficacy of their school systems while still respecting the First Amendment rights of their employees? When can they take adverse employment action against educators on the basis of speech that is posted online, and under what circumstances is that speech protected? Does the Connick public concern requirement effectively remove all constitutional protection from public educators who are active on social media, irrespective of whether their speech is disruptive? This Article addresses these questions …
Collective Corporate Knowledge, The Federal False Claims Act, And The Future Of Federal Health Programs, Sam F. Halabi
Collective Corporate Knowledge, The Federal False Claims Act, And The Future Of Federal Health Programs, Sam F. Halabi
Faculty Publications
While recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have drawn focus to whether what corporations “say” is protected by the First Amendment or what they “believe” is protected by the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the more relevant inquiry for a wide range of statutory and regulatory regimes is what corporations “know.” At the core of that question is what guides information relevant for legal compliance (including product safety, employee welfare, and material risks considered by investors) from its source to any given point in the firm, including decision-makers. This Article analyzes the federal False Claims Act as an underexploited resource in …
Defining Peaceably: Policing The Line Between Constitutionally Protected Protest And Unlawful Speech, Tabatha Abu El-Haj
Defining Peaceably: Policing The Line Between Constitutionally Protected Protest And Unlawful Speech, Tabatha Abu El-Haj
Missouri Law Review
The current wave of civil rights demonstrations in response to police killings began on August 9, 2014, after Darren Wilson, a white police officer, fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American eighteen-year-old, in Ferguson, Missouri. Outraged by the incident and by the fact that the body was left on the street for four-and-a-half hours – an image that went viral on social media – members of the community took to the streets. They went out without securing the necessary permits and without visible connection to established local civil rights organizations. The mainstream media quickly framed the events in Ferguson as …
After Hobby Lobby: The “Religious For-Profit” And The Limits Of The Autonomy Doctrine, Angela C. Carmella
After Hobby Lobby: The “Religious For-Profit” And The Limits Of The Autonomy Doctrine, Angela C. Carmella
Missouri Law Review
Churches are protected under the autonomy doctrine, which is rooted in the Religion Clauses, to ensure that they are free to define their institutional identity and mission. In more limited circumstances, many religious nonprofits also enjoy autonomy protections. Now that the Supreme Court has decided in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. that for-profit corporations are capable of religious exercise and entitled to statutory free exercise protection, this Article poses a question that is on the horizon: would it ever be plausible to extend the autonomy doctrine to a for-profit institution? This Article identifies several types of for-profits (named “religious …
Anthony Lewis, Dahlia Lithwick
Anthony Lewis, Dahlia Lithwick
Missouri Law Review
Tony Lewis changed everything about Supreme Court reporting. He changed everything because he inserted himself directly into the conversation between the Justices of the Supreme Court and the American public. He wasn’t writing for the constitutional scholars; he wasn’t writing for the history books (although he might have been) and he wasn’t writing to impress the justices (although he did). Instead, Lewis was a translator, an ambassador, who in the Warren Court era fashioned himself as the People’s Solicitor General; he was the advocate for the little guy before the high court, and an advocate to his readers about what …
Anthony Lewis And The First Amendment, Adam Liptak
Anthony Lewis And The First Amendment, Adam Liptak
Missouri Law Review
It is a great privilege to be with you today to celebrate the life and work of Anthony Lewis who created modern legal journalism. I thought I would try to do three things today to help us think about Tony’s legacy. One is to sketch out what made Tony such a giant. A second is to reflect for a minute on the state of the modern Supreme Court press corps, which he essentially founded. And a third is to consider a topic Tony returned to again and again in his articles, columns and books: the role of the press in …
Press Freedom And Coverage In The U.S. And Kosovo: A Series Of Comparisons And Recommendations, Ben Holden
Press Freedom And Coverage In The U.S. And Kosovo: A Series Of Comparisons And Recommendations, Ben Holden
Missouri Law Review
The Republic of Kosovo was created from the southernmost section of the former Yugoslavia by American military intervention and subsequent worldwide humanitarian guidance between 1999 and 2008. The resulting nation (which Russia, China, and others do not recognize) was born with one of the most pro-speech and press-friendly constitutions in the world. This Article compares and contrasts four press freedoms in the U.S. and Kosovo: (1) censorship and liability for publication of “truthful” speech; (2) liability for media errors; (3) shield laws; and (4) transparency in courts and records. Where the law and social mores of Kosovo are silent, recommendations …
From Keyboard To Schoolhouse: Student Speech In An Age Of Pervasive Technology, Erin M. Leach
From Keyboard To Schoolhouse: Student Speech In An Age Of Pervasive Technology, Erin M. Leach
Missouri Law Review
To most Americans, the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause is among the most sacred provisions of the Constitution. At first reading, it seems a broad guarantee of the right of citizens to speak their mind without limitation. But the jurisprudence on the clause shows that the law governing free speech is far from uncomplicated. The analysis is made more complex in the context of student speech due to a different set of standards governing the rights of students while they are under the care of their schools. S.J.W ex rel. Wilson v. Lee's Summit R-7 School District, a recent Eighth …
Amendment 2 And Its Effect On Missourians' Free Exercise Of Religion, Mishelle Martinez
Amendment 2 And Its Effect On Missourians' Free Exercise Of Religion, Mishelle Martinez
Missouri Law Review
This Comment provides a thorough analysis of Amendment 2. The primary issue addressed is whether Amendment 2 will have an impact on Missourians' religious freedoms or whether Amendment 2 merely reaffirms rights already granted under the old article I, section 5 of the Missouri Constitution. If Amendment 2 does add new rights, an analysis of whether such rights are in accord with the First Amendment is required. Part II outlines the legislative history, text, and general commentary on the key provisions of Amendment 2. In Part III, all new provisions under Amendment 2 are analyzed in light of the legal …
Social Networking And Freedom Of Speech: Not Like Old Times , Zachary Shklar
Social Networking And Freedom Of Speech: Not Like Old Times , Zachary Shklar
Missouri Law Review
In Bland v. Roberts, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia was presented with the issue of whether “liking” a page on Facebook is speech protectable by the First Amendment. This Note argues that the court’s holding, that “liking” something on Facebook is not worthy of First Amendment protection, is a disturbing result that endangers one of our most fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. In Part II, this Note analyzes the facts and holding of Bland v. Roberts. Next, in Part III, this Note describes in detail how Facebook operates and explains the legal background …
Unwanted Exposure To Religious Expression By Government: Standing And The Establishment Clause, Carl H. Esbeck
Unwanted Exposure To Religious Expression By Government: Standing And The Establishment Clause, Carl H. Esbeck
Faculty Publications
For nearly half a century the Supreme Court has relaxed traditional standards of justiciability and permitted taxpayer standing when a claimant has invoked the Establishment Clause in a lawsuit to prohibit government funding of religion. The Court has recently cutback, however, permitting taxpayer standing only when a tax is extracted from the claimant and money is appropriated by a legislature to fund a statutory program that directs the use of public aid for religion.
What's It To You: The First Amendment And Matters Of Public Concern , Mark Strasser
What's It To You: The First Amendment And Matters Of Public Concern , Mark Strasser
Missouri Law Review
This Article traces the development of the “matters of public concern” doctrine, explaining the role that the concept has played in cases ranging from defamation3 to employment termination to publication of (allegedly) private facts.4 The Article discusses various inconsistencies in the Court’s jurisprudence, both with respect to what counts as a matter of public concern5 and with respect to the relative importance of the protection of such matters. 6 It concludes that the current jurisprudence cannot help but cause confusion and inconsistent results in the lower courts and must be clarified at the earliest opportunity. 7
All Those Like You: Identity Aggression And Student Speech , Ari Ezra Waldman
All Those Like You: Identity Aggression And Student Speech , Ari Ezra Waldman
Missouri Law Review
This Article answers two categories of questions, one social and another legal. The first series of questions is about the sociology of identity aggression and it seeks to determine whether there is a difference between, say, calling someone a "faggot" and calling someone a "dork." If there is a difference, to what extent is there empirical evidence that suggests that one is more harmful to the victim, to his community, and to his school? The legal problem flows directly from the relative harm posed by identity aggression: it is too simplistic to see the Court's student speech jurisprudence like a …
How Not To Criminalize Cyberbullying, Lyrissa Lidsky, Andrea Pinzon Garcia
How Not To Criminalize Cyberbullying, Lyrissa Lidsky, Andrea Pinzon Garcia
Missouri Law Review
This essay provides a sustained constitutional critique of the growing body of laws criminalizing cyberbullying. These laws typically proceed by either modernizing existing harassment and stalking laws or crafting new criminal offenses. Both paths are beset with First Amendment perils, which this essay illustrates through 'case studies' of selected legislative efforts. Though sympathetic to the aims of these new laws, this essay contends that reflexive criminalization in response to tragic cyberbullying incidents has led law-makers to conflate cyberbullying as a social problem with cyberbullying as a criminal problem, creating pernicious consequences. The legislative zeal to eradicate cyberbullying potentially produces disproportionate …
Contextualizing Disclosure's Effects: Wikileaks, Balancing And The First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Contextualizing Disclosure's Effects: Wikileaks, Balancing And The First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
This essay responds to Professor Fenster’s article in the Iowa Law Review, Disclosure’s Effects: WikiLeaks and Transparency, assessing the effects of the recent WikiLeaks disclosures. The essay agrees with many of Professor Fenster’s conclusions regarding the promise and peril of those disclosures, especially his concern regarding the problematic balancing approaches used to assess the likely impact when confidential information is revealed. It specifically elaborates on courts’ current application of the Espionage Act, a criminal law likely to be applied to the WikiLeaks disclosures, and the implications of that deferential application for WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and journalists in general.
Recognizing The Public Schools' Authority To Discipline Students' Off-Campus Cyberbullying Of Classmates, Douglas E. Abrams
Recognizing The Public Schools' Authority To Discipline Students' Off-Campus Cyberbullying Of Classmates, Douglas E. Abrams
Faculty Publications
The American Medical Association, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified bullying in the public elementary and secondary schools as a "public health problem". This article explains the schools' comprehensive authority, consistent with the First Amendment, to impose discipline on cyberbullies, by suspension or expulsion if necessary. Ever since Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Supreme Court's First Amendment decisions have granted the schools authority to discipline student speech that causes, or reasonably threatens, (1) "substantial disruption of or material interference with school …
Giving A Voice To The Inanimate: The Right Of A Corporation To Political Free Speech, Alex Osterlind
Giving A Voice To The Inanimate: The Right Of A Corporation To Political Free Speech, Alex Osterlind
Missouri Law Review
This Note examines the concept of corporate personhood and whether the state-created corporate entity is contemplated by the First Amendment. To discuss this controversy in relation to federal election laws constraining corporate financing, this Note first explains the particulars giving rise to the Citizens United case. Next, this Note examines the legislative and judicial treatment of corporate financing laws in regard to elections. Building upon this milieu, this Note presents the viewpoints of both those opposed to unrestricted corporate political speech as well as those championing a broad interpretation of the First Amendment that encompasses the corporate entity. Finally, this …
Panel Discussion At "Signs Of The Times: The First Amendment And Religious Symbolism", Carl H. Esbeck
Panel Discussion At "Signs Of The Times: The First Amendment And Religious Symbolism", Carl H. Esbeck
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Role Of Individuals Discrimination In Free Exercise Claims: Putting Iqbal In Its Place, The, Leila Mcneill
Role Of Individuals Discrimination In Free Exercise Claims: Putting Iqbal In Its Place, The, Leila Mcneill
Missouri Law Review
Ashcroft v. Iqbal has been widely discussed for three reasons: (1) its extension of Twombly's pleading standard to cases outside the realm of antitrust suits, (2) its application of the collateral order doctrine to a district court order denying an official's motion to dismiss on the basis of qualified immunity in a Bivens claim, and (3) its implication for national security and postSeptember 11th terrorist detainments and investigations. However, Iqbal also implicates the nature of what constitutes unconstitutional religious discrimination under the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause. Therefore, the Iqbal Court's discussion of religious liberty will present problems of interpretation …
Regulating Offensiveness: Snyder V. Phelps, Emotion, And The First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Regulating Offensiveness: Snyder V. Phelps, Emotion, And The First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
In its upcoming term, the Court will decide in Snyder v. Phelps whether Albert Snyder can sue the Reverend Fred Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress for protesting near his son’s funeral. Those arguing in favor of tort liability claim that the Phelps’ speech during a time of mourning and vulnerability is especially outrageous and injurious and that the First Amendment allows such regulation. Their arguments, however, effectively rely on the offensiveness of the Phelps’ message rather than on any external indicia of harm, such as noisy …
First Amendment And Specialty License Plates: The Choose Life Controversy, The, Stephanie S. Bell
First Amendment And Specialty License Plates: The Choose Life Controversy, The, Stephanie S. Bell
Missouri Law Review
This summary will examine the models of specialty license plate creation, the history of "Choose Life" specialty license plates, the litigation surrounding the controversy, and the two differing standards courts have used to distinguish government and private speech: the Fourth Circuit's four-factor test and the Johanns test.
Privacy And Funeral Protests, Christina E. Wells
Privacy And Funeral Protests, Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
This article examines the free speech implications of funeral protest statutes. Enacted in response to the Westboro Baptist Church, whose members protest at funerals to spread their antigay message, such statutes restrict a broad array of peaceful expressive activity. This Article focuses on the states’ interest underlying these statutes - protecting mourners’ right to be free from unwanted intrusions while at funeral services. Few would argue against protecting funeral services from intrusive protests. These statutes, however, go far beyond that notion and protect mourners from offensive, rather than intrusive, protests. As such, they do not conceive of privacy as protection …
Preparing Students For Democratic Participation: Why Teacher Curricular Speech Should Sometimes Be Protected By The First Amendment, Anne Gardner
Missouri Law Review
This note will examine the legal basis and educational framework for First Amendment protection of classroom speech. The Supreme Court of the United States has not directly addressed the constitutional issues implicated in teacher classroom speech. As a result, the circuit courts are split in the application of an appropriate analysis.15 In most circuits, teacher curricular speech is not protected speech.' 6 Among the circuit courts, teacher curricular speech is governed by three competing doctrines: public employee speech, student speech, and academic freedom. 1 7 While the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits have applied the Pickering public employee analysis,' …
Right To Remain Silent: A First Amendment Analysis Of Abortion Informed Consent Laws, The, Whitney D. Pile
Right To Remain Silent: A First Amendment Analysis Of Abortion Informed Consent Laws, The, Whitney D. Pile
Missouri Law Review
Since the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion in the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, the law governing the regulation of abortions has been in a constant state of flux. After the legalization of abortion, states began enacting informed consent laws in order to regulate what information a woman must be given before terminating her pregnancy; today, a total of 32 states have an informed consent law of some kind. Many informed consent laws, such as that of Missouri, require that a woman receive information at least 24 hours before undergoing an abortion and that the abortion providers disclose the …
When Accommodations For Religion Violate The Establishment Clause: Regularizing The Supreme Court's Analysis, Carl H. Esbeck
When Accommodations For Religion Violate The Establishment Clause: Regularizing The Supreme Court's Analysis, Carl H. Esbeck
Faculty Publications
This article sets forth five rules with respect to what government may do to accommodate religious practice and five rules with respect to what government may not do. As it turns out the Supreme Court has said that most religious accommodations are left to the broad discretion of legislators and public officials. So long as the object of the accommodation is to protect or expand religious freedom, as distinct from expanding religion, the accommodation will be permitted.
First Amendment And Non-Political Speech: Exploring A Constitutional Model That Focuses On The Existence Of Alternative Channels Of Communication, The, Patrick M. Garry
First Amendment And Non-Political Speech: Exploring A Constitutional Model That Focuses On The Existence Of Alternative Channels Of Communication, The, Patrick M. Garry
Missouri Law Review
This Article attempts to illustrate how media entertainment speech currently possesses a constitutional advantage over the traditional political speech of physical protest. Part I discusses current First Amendment doctrines relating to permissible types of speech regulation. Although these doctrines claim to be content-neutral, they effectively discriminate against the speech of on-site political protest. Part II examines how this discrimination comes into being. Since many of the constitutional doctrines relating to speech regulation are geared to the "place" where the speech occurs, these doctrines essentially let media entertainment off the hook, since the vast majority of that entertainment has no "place" …
Authorship, Audiences, And Anonymous Speech, Thomas F. Cotter, Lyrissa Lidsky
Authorship, Audiences, And Anonymous Speech, Thomas F. Cotter, Lyrissa Lidsky
Faculty Publications
A series of United States Supreme Court decisions establishes that the First Amendment provides a qualified right to speak and publish anonymously, or under a pseudonym. But the Court has never clearly defined the scope of this right. As a result, lower courts have been left with little guidance when it comes to dealing both with the Internet-fueled growth of torts and crimes committed by anonymous speakers, and with the increasing number of lawsuits aimed at silencing legitimate anonymous speech. In this Article, we provide both positive and normative foundations for a comprehensive approach to anonymous speech. We first draw …
Honk To Remove This Demonstration: The Eighth Circuit Adopts A Heckler's Veto, Aaron E. Schwartz
Honk To Remove This Demonstration: The Eighth Circuit Adopts A Heckler's Veto, Aaron E. Schwartz
Missouri Law Review
Freedom of speech is a pillar of American ideology, providing protection from rule by the majority and allowing those with minority opinions to participate in political dialog. Generally, the courts have allowed extremely limited restrictions. However, in Frye v. Kansas City Police Department, the Eighth Circuit appears decide the opposite, placing convince for the many over the rights of the few.