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Full-Text Articles in Law
Indoctrination By Elimination: Why Banning Critical Race Theory In Public Schools Is Unconstitutional, Emma Postel
Indoctrination By Elimination: Why Banning Critical Race Theory In Public Schools Is Unconstitutional, Emma Postel
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
This Note argues that Texas public school students’ First Amendment Rights have been violated by the passage of Senate Bill 3 (SB 3), which bans the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K–12 public schools. The First Amendment is violated here because (1) students have a First Amendment right to speech, and this law bans protected speech; (2) students have a right to receive information, and this ban prevents them from receiving information; and (3) schools are meant to be the marketplace of ideas for students and banning CRT amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. This Note does not suggest …
Marriage Mandates: Compelled Disclosures Of Race, Sex, And Gender Data In Marriage Licensing Schemes, Mikaela A. Phillips
Marriage Mandates: Compelled Disclosures Of Race, Sex, And Gender Data In Marriage Licensing Schemes, Mikaela A. Phillips
William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
This Note argues that mandatory disclosures of personal information—specifically race, sex, and gender—on a marriage license application constitute compelled speech under the First Amendment and should be subject to heightened scrutiny. Disclosing one’s race, sex, or gender on a marriage license application is an affirmative act, and individuals may wish to have their identity remain anonymous. These mandatory disclosures send a message that this information is still relevant to marriage regulation. Neither race nor gender is based in science; rather they are historical and social constructs created to uphold a system of white supremacy and heteronormativity. Thus, such statements are …
Deepfakes: A New Content Category For A Digital Age, Anna Pesetski
Deepfakes: A New Content Category For A Digital Age, Anna Pesetski
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, greatly benefitting society. One such benefit is people’s ability to have quick and easy access to information through news and social media. A recent concern, however, is that manipulated media, otherwise known as “deepfakes,” are being released and passed off as truth. These videos are crafted with technology that allows the creator to carefully change details of the video’s subject to make him appear to do or say things that he never did. Deepfakes are often depictions of political candidates or leaders and have the potential to influence voter choice, thereby altering the …
The Pure-Hearted Abrams Case, Andres Yoder
The Pure-Hearted Abrams Case, Andres Yoder
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
One hundred years ago, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes changed his mind about the right to free speech and wound up splitting the history of free speech law into two. In his dissent in Abrams v. United States, he called for the end of the old order—in which courts often ignored or rejected free speech claims—and set the stage for the current order—in which the right to free speech is of central constitutional importance. However, a century on, scholars have been unable to identify a specific reason for Holmes’s Abrams transformation, and have instead pointed to more diffuse influences. By …
Free Speech, Rational Deliberation, And Some Truths About Lies, Alan K. Chen
Free Speech, Rational Deliberation, And Some Truths About Lies, Alan K. Chen
William & Mary Law Review
Could “fake news” have First Amendment value? This claim would seem to be almost frivolous given the potential for fake news to undermine two core functions of the freedom of speech—promoting democracy and facilitating the search for “truth,” as well as the corollary that to be valuable, speech must promote rational deliberation. Some would therefore claim that fake news should be classified as “no value” speech falling outside of the First Amendment’s reach. This Article argues somewhat counterintuitively that fake news has value because speech doctrine should not be focused exclusively on the promotion of rational deliberation, but should also …
Janus And The Future Of Collective Bargaining: Rhetorically Predicting A First Amendment Right To Negotiation, Thomas J. Freeman, Aaron Mckain, Destynie J.L. Sewell
Janus And The Future Of Collective Bargaining: Rhetorically Predicting A First Amendment Right To Negotiation, Thomas J. Freeman, Aaron Mckain, Destynie J.L. Sewell
William & Mary Business Law Review
The importance of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees has been widely recognized for its effect on reducing the power and influence of public unions. A close reading of the majority opinion provides a clue that compulsory collective bargaining itself may be settling into the court’s crosshairs. Collective bargaining is an important tool, by which labor can reduce the often-inherent power imbalance it has with ownership and management. Yet as this Article outlines, the interests of individual workers can often be at odds with those other workers workers, particularly those …
Information Gathering Or Speech Creation: How To Think About A First Amendment Right To Record, Jared Mullen
Information Gathering Or Speech Creation: How To Think About A First Amendment Right To Record, Jared Mullen
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
The Bad News Of Good News Club: Obliterating The Wall Between Church & State, Kevin W. Connell
The Bad News Of Good News Club: Obliterating The Wall Between Church & State, Kevin W. Connell
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Contracting Away The First Amendment?: When Courts Should Intervene In Nondisclosure Agreements, Abigail Stephens
Contracting Away The First Amendment?: When Courts Should Intervene In Nondisclosure Agreements, Abigail Stephens
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Political And Non-Political Speech And Guns, Gregory P. Magarian
Political And Non-Political Speech And Guns, Gregory P. Magarian
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
The Deliberative-Privacy Principle: Abortion, Free Speech, And Religious Freedom, B. Jessie Hill
The Deliberative-Privacy Principle: Abortion, Free Speech, And Religious Freedom, B. Jessie Hill
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
The Conscience Of The Baker: Religion And Compelled Speech, Ashutosh Bhagwat
The Conscience Of The Baker: Religion And Compelled Speech, Ashutosh Bhagwat
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Free-Speech Formalism And Social Injustice, Stephen M. Feldman
Free-Speech Formalism And Social Injustice, Stephen M. Feldman
William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
The Roberts Court has shifted constitutional law in a formalist direction. This Essay explains the Court’s formalism and its causes and consequences in First Amendment free-expression cases. The thesis is that the current conservative justices’ reliance on formalism intertwines with their attitudes toward public and private spheres of activity. Their attitudes toward the public-private dichotomy are, in turn, shaped by their political ideologies as well as by the contemporary practices of democratic government, which have shifted significantly over American history. Formalism contains an inherent political tilt favoring those who already wield power in the private sphere. Formalism favors the wealthy …
Prior Restraint In The Digital Age, Ariel L. Bendor, Michal Tamir
Prior Restraint In The Digital Age, Ariel L. Bendor, Michal Tamir
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
In this Article we argue that the digital revolution requires a reshaping of the Doctrine of Prior Restraint, which prohibits the implementation of any regulations that prevent the publication of speech prior to its distribution. We describe the prohibition on prior restraint of speech, its rationales and its exceptions; present the characteristics of the media in the digital age; suggest that the traditional design of the Doctrine does not fit these characteristics; and describe the reshaping that we propose in order to adapt the Doctrine to the age of the Internet and social networking.
Broken Platforms, Broken Communities? Free Speech On Campus, Stephen M. Feldman
Broken Platforms, Broken Communities? Free Speech On Campus, Stephen M. Feldman
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Free speech disputes have broken out on numerous college and university campuses. In several incidents, protesters have attempted to block the presentations of well-known and controversial speakers who threaten the communal status of societal outsiders. These events have sparked not only widespread media coverage but also the publication of multiple scholarly books and articles. None of this scholarship, however, has recognized that the interrelated histories of free expression and democracy can shed considerable light on these matters. This Article takes on that challenge. Specifically, this Article explores the ramifications of the historical interrelationship between free expression and democracy for campus …
Merging Offensive-Speech Cases With Viewpoint-Discrimination Principles: The Immediate Impact Of Matal V. Tam On Two Strands Of First Amendment Jurisprudence, Clay Calvert
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
This Article examines flaws with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in Matal v. Tam that equated giving offense with viewpoint discrimination. Already, the Court’s language in Tam that “giving offense is a viewpoint” is being cited by multiple lower courts. This Article argues, however, that giving offense is not synonymous with viewpoint discrimination. This Article contends that the Court in Tam conflated two distinct strands of First Amendment jurisprudence—namely, its offensive-speech cases with principles against viewpoint discrimination. The Article proposes two possible paths forward to help courts better clarify when a case such as Tam should be analyzed as …
Antitrust As Speech Control, Hillary Greene, Dennis A. Yao
Antitrust As Speech Control, Hillary Greene, Dennis A. Yao
William & Mary Law Review
Antitrust law, at times, dictates who, when, and about what people can and cannot speak. It would seem then that the First Amendment might have something to say about those constraints. And it does, though perhaps less directly and to a lesser degree than one might expect. This Article examines the interface between those regimes while recasting antitrust thinking in terms of speech control.
Our review of the antitrust-First Amendment legal landscape focuses on the role of speech control. It reveals that while First Amendment issues are explicitly addressed relatively infrequently within antitrust decisions that is, in part, because certain …
The Esquire Case: A Lost Free Speech Landmark, Samantha Barbas
The Esquire Case: A Lost Free Speech Landmark, Samantha Barbas
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Silencing State Courts, Jeffrey Steven Gordon
Silencing State Courts, Jeffrey Steven Gordon
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
In state courts across the Nation, an absolutist conception of the First Amendment is preempting common law speech torts. From intentional infliction of emotional distress and intrusion upon seclusion, to intentional interference with contractual relations and negligent infliction of emotional distress, state courts are dismissing speech tort claims on the pleadings because of the broad First Amendment defense recognized by Snyder v. Phelps in 2011. This Article argues, contrary to the scholarly consensus, that Snyder was a categorical departure from the methodology adopted by New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 case that first applied the First …
Adapting Bartnicki V. Vopper To A Changing Tech Landscape: Rebalancing Free Speech And Privacy In The Smartphone Age, Andrew E. Levitt
Adapting Bartnicki V. Vopper To A Changing Tech Landscape: Rebalancing Free Speech And Privacy In The Smartphone Age, Andrew E. Levitt
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Beyond Headlines & Holdings: Exploring Some Less Obvious Ramifications Of The Supreme Court’S 2017 Free-Speech Rulings, Clay Calvert
Beyond Headlines & Holdings: Exploring Some Less Obvious Ramifications Of The Supreme Court’S 2017 Free-Speech Rulings, Clay Calvert
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Digging behind the holdings, this Article analyzes less conspicuous, yet highly consequential aspects of the United States Supreme Court’s First Amendment rulings during the opening half of 2017. The four facets of the opinions addressed here—items both within individual cases and cutting across them—hold vast significance for future free-speech battles. Nuances of the justices’ splintering in Matal v. Tam, Packingham v. North Carolina, and Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman are examined, as is the immediate impact of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Packingham dicta regarding online social networks. Furthermore, Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s solo concurrence in the threats case of Perez …
Not Today, Satan: Re-Examining Viewpoint Discrimination In The Limited Public Forum, Daniel Cutler
Not Today, Satan: Re-Examining Viewpoint Discrimination In The Limited Public Forum, Daniel Cutler
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Protecting The Silence Of Speech: Academic Safe Spaces, The Free Speech Critique, And The Solution Of Free Association, Trevor N. Ward
Protecting The Silence Of Speech: Academic Safe Spaces, The Free Speech Critique, And The Solution Of Free Association, Trevor N. Ward
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
All Employers Must Wash Their Speech Before Returning To Work: The First Amendment & Compelled Use Of Employees’ Preferred Gender Pronouns, Tyler Sherman
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
The Government Speech Doctrine In Walker’S Wake: Early Rifts And Reverberations On Free Speech, Viewpoint Discrimination, And Offensive Expression, Clay Calvert
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
This Article examines the immediate effects on free expression of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. involving the government speech doctrine. In Walker, a sharply—and largely partisanly—divided Court upheld, in the face of a First Amendment challenge, Texas’s decision denying a private organization’s application for a specialty license plate featuring Confederate battle flag imagery. This Article initially reviews the government speech doctrine and Walker. It then analyzes Walker’s impact on cases that, like it, involve specialty license plate programs. Next, this Article explores lower court efforts stretching …
A Reverent Reflection Of The Splendid Scholarship Of Martin Redish—Does Reexamining Commercial Speech Shed Light On The Regrettable Reliance Upon Lie & Insult In Political Campaigns?, Douglas W. Kmiec
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Introduction: The Moral Demands Of Commercial Speech, Andrew Koppelman
Introduction: The Moral Demands Of Commercial Speech, Andrew Koppelman
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
False Commercial Speech And The First Amendment: Understanding The Implications Of The Equivalency Principle, Martin H. Redish, Kyle Voils
False Commercial Speech And The First Amendment: Understanding The Implications Of The Equivalency Principle, Martin H. Redish, Kyle Voils
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Are Commercial Speech Cases Ideological? An Empirical Inquiry, Adam M. Samaha, Roy Germano
Are Commercial Speech Cases Ideological? An Empirical Inquiry, Adam M. Samaha, Roy Germano
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
The empirical study of judicial behavior continues to grow and mature. The live challenges include specification, such as constructing useful conceptions and measures of ideology, mapping particular domains in which identifiable forces influence decisions, and quantifying the magnitudes of those influences. To make progress on these challenges, we roll out new and expanded datasets that build on the work of Cass Sunstein, Lee Epstein, Gregory Sisk, and others, and we report on the character of constitutional litigation today. Our datasets cover U.S. Court of Appeals decisions in five domains: (1) commercial speech, (2) gun rights, (3) abortion rights, (4) establishment …
Commercial Speech And The Perils Of Parity, Frederick Schauer
Commercial Speech And The Perils Of Parity, Frederick Schauer
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.