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Protecting The Cellular Citizen-Critic: The State Of Political Speech From Sullivan To Popa, Clay Calvert
Protecting The Cellular Citizen-Critic: The State Of Political Speech From Sullivan To Popa, Clay Calvert
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
The 1999federal appellate court decision of United States v. Popa suggests the startling emergence of a nascent First Amendment right to engage in anonymous and racist telephonic harassment of government officials. Professor Calvert suggests that this decision sadly reflects the state of political discourse in the United States today, namely a dialectical free-for-all directly contrary to the vision of philosopher-educator Alexander Meiklejohn, a vision advanced by the United States Supreme Court in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan but rejected by the shout-and- attack cultures of cable news channel political talk shows and call-in radio programs. The Popa decision also …