Law Commons^™

Internet Speech And The First Amendment Rights Of Public School Students, Leora Harpaz

Faculty Scholarship

In exploring the range of the First Amendment issues raised by school efforts to discipline students for Internet activities, this Article first examines Supreme Court and lower court precedent involving student speech outside of the Internet context. It then looks at Beussink, the first reported decision to involve discipline of a student for Internet speech. It also discusses other Internet situations in which schools have sought to impose sanctions on students. In its final section, it applies free speech methodology to a range of Internet situations. This exploration identifies some situations where a school is free to control speech that …

Free Speech And Good Character, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

Early proponents of the freedom of speech such as John Milton, John Stuart Mill, and Louis Brandeis emphasized the role expressive liberty plays in strengthening the character of persons entrusted with such freedom. These theorists argued that character traits such as civic courage, independence of mind, and the capacity to learn from experience and adapt are nurtured by trusting citizens with dangerous ideas. Today there is much talk about good character in relation to free speech disputes-but all on the side of those who would regulate speakers. It is time to remember that a concern about character cuts both ways …

Generally Applicable Laws And The First Amendment, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reading Holmes Through The Lens Of Schauer: The Abrams Dissent, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

Even the best scholars rarely persuade. Mostly, they illuminate. They make us more discerning readers and interlocutors.

Here I want to illustrate how Frederick Schauer's work on the law of free speech can help us to read what may be the single most influential judicial opinion ever written on that subject, Justice Holmes's famous dissent in Abrams v. United States. So far as I am aware, Schauer has not produced anything like a line-by-line parsing of the Holmes opinion. I claim nevertheless that a reader familiar with Schauer's ideas is far better prepared on that account to understand what Holmes …

Constitutional Law--First Amendment--No Constitutional Right To Vote For Donald Duck: The Supreme Court Upholds The Constitutionality Of Write-In Voting Bans In Burdick V. Takushi, Jeanne M. Kaiser

Faculty Scholarship

This Note examines the Supreme Court decision in Burkick v. Takushi in detail and questions the Court's conclusion that the voters' interest in casting write-in votes is so slight that write-in bans are presumptively valid. The Note concludes that the Burdick decision is both inconsistent with the Court's previous ballot access jurisprudence, and restricts the electoral process at a time when voters are clamoring for more diverse choices in the voting booth. Section I of this Note briefly reviews a number of cases that considered the constitutionality of legislation governing candidate access to election ballots. The ballot access cases are …

Constitutional Identity, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

The aim of this Article is to introduce and clarify a new way of thinking about decisions in close cases, particularly those that address basic issues of constitutional law. When constitutional language fails to offer an unequivocal directive for decision, the recourse of the judge is not always to look "outward" toward overarching principles of political morality. In an illuminating array of cases, the acceptable way to resolve the disputes and to explain the results is to turn "inward" and reflect upon the legal culture in which the dispute is embedded. The way to understand this subcategory of decisions is …

Civil Actions For Emotional Distress And R.A.V. V. City Of St. Paul, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

The law of emotional distress is characterized by judicial reluctance to create and expand remedies for emotional injuries. The issue here is whether the Court's decision in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul will impose further limitations on the right to recover civil damages for the intentional infliction of emotional injury, particular emotional injuries resulting from hate speech. This symposium first examines the applicability of the tort to redress claims based on abusive epithets based on the victim's race, gender, or sexual orientation. The symposium then argues that using this tort in cases involving hate speech should not create constitutional …

God Talk By Professors Within The Classrooms Of Public Institutions Of Higher Education: What Is Constitutionally Permissible?, Sarah Howard Jenkins, Byron R. Johnson, Otto Jennings Helweg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Protection Of Freedom Of Expression In The United States As It Affects Defamation Law, Oscar S. Gray

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law As Moral Philosophy, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

The seemingly inexhaustible debate over the proper role of the Supreme Court in constitutional adjudication concerns an issue of enormous practical importance: whether the Court has or should have the power to overturn the decision of a democratically elected legislature to, say, prohibit abortions, affects not only the allocation of significant political power, but also the moral lives and indeed the very bodies of millions of citizens. For this reason, many contributions to that debate, from academics as well as from practicing politicians, have burned with the passion of political commitment, seeking to influence events directly by persuading judges (or …

The Origins Of Freedom Of Speech And Press, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Balancing Freedom Of Speech, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

First Amendment Ancillary Doctrines, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court's Interpretation Of The Guarantee Of Freedom Of Speech, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.