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Full-Text Articles in Law

Fighting Words Today, R. George Wright Jun 2022

Fighting Words Today, R. George Wright

Pepperdine Law Review

For some time, the familiar free speech exception known as the “fighting words” doctrine has been subject to severe judicial and scholarly critique. It turns out, though, that the fighting words doctrine, in general, is neither obsolete nor in need of radical limitation. The traditionally neglected “inflict injury” prong of the fighting words doctrine can and should be vitalized, with only a minimal loss, if not an actual net gain, in promoting the basic purposes of freedom of speech in the first place. And the “reactive violence” prong can and should be relieved of its historic biases and dubious assumptions. …


Ministries Of Truth: Free Speech And The Tech Giants, Clayton Calvin Jan 2020

Ministries Of Truth: Free Speech And The Tech Giants, Clayton Calvin

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

As the tech giants’ influence has grown, they have increasingly become arbiters of truth. This comment explores three methods for lessening their authority over digital speech. Antitrust, adjustment of the companies’ “neutral platform” status, and even creative use of First Amendment could each serve its role. At the same time, the First Amendment rights of the companies themselves pose a barrier, justifiably, to each method. To remain true to its founding ideals, America must lessen this private grip on civic discourse without expanding the government’s dominion over it.


Speak Up: Issue Advocacy In Increasingly Politicized Times, Sally Wagenmaker Nov 2014

Speak Up: Issue Advocacy In Increasingly Politicized Times, Sally Wagenmaker

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This article first provides a brief primer on current constraints affecting Section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations' communications within the context of what has become known as “issue advocacy.” It then sets forth the problem of increasing politicization of nonprofits' issue advocacy activities. The article next evaluates related constitutional tensions for politically tinged issue advocacy, through the lens of the Supreme Court's free speech decisions. It concludes by addressing how the IRS's different content-based standards for issue advocacy are susceptible to abuse, are otherwise constitutionally suspect, and therefore warrant reform.


All For One, And One For All-Comers! University Nondiscrimination Policies In Light Of Hosanna-Tabor And The Ministerial Exception, Zach Tafoya Jan 2014

All For One, And One For All-Comers! University Nondiscrimination Policies In Light Of Hosanna-Tabor And The Ministerial Exception, Zach Tafoya

Pepperdine Law Review

In light of the more recent Hosanna-Tabor decision, this Comment seeks to answer these questions by extending the reasoning behind the ministerial exception to the university context in order to build a foundation upon which a future exception can be built to ensure that religious student groups are sufficiently free to choose their own leaders. Part II sets forth a brief history of the ministerial exception and its application in the circuit courts. Part III addresses two recent Supreme Court cases, Martinez and Hosanna-Tabor, and their practical effect on religious liberty, as well as the public’s perception of both cases. …


Facebook Is Not Your Friend: Protecting A Private Employee's Expectation Of Privacy In Social Networking Content In The Twenty-First Century Workplace, Cara Magatelli Jan 2014

Facebook Is Not Your Friend: Protecting A Private Employee's Expectation Of Privacy In Social Networking Content In The Twenty-First Century Workplace, Cara Magatelli

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Comment explores the implications SNS postings have on private employers concerning the off-duty, non-work related conduct of their employees. This argument recognizes that an employee is entitled to engage in whatever legal off-duty conduct he chooses, so long as the behavior does not damage his employer's legitimate business interests. An employer should not be able to use information gleaned from an employee's SNS postings, unrelated to an employer's business interests, to punish an employee for her choices outside the work place. Disciplining or terminating an employee for his off-duty lifestyle choices permits the morals and standards of the employer …


Losing The Struggle To Define The Proper Balance Between The Law Of Defamation And The First Amendment - Gertz V. Robert Welch, Inc.: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, Douglas B. Large, Kristopher Kallman May 2013

Losing The Struggle To Define The Proper Balance Between The Law Of Defamation And The First Amendment - Gertz V. Robert Welch, Inc.: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, Douglas B. Large, Kristopher Kallman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


This Alj Said Too Much: Prison Hearing Officer Charges Michigan Department Of Corrections With First Amendment Violations And Race Discrimination, Carolyn Amadon Apr 2013

This Alj Said Too Much: Prison Hearing Officer Charges Michigan Department Of Corrections With First Amendment Violations And Race Discrimination, Carolyn Amadon

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.


Defining The Lifeblood: The Search For A Sensible Ministerial Exception Test, Summer E. Allen Apr 2013

Defining The Lifeblood: The Search For A Sensible Ministerial Exception Test, Summer E. Allen

Pepperdine Law Review

Over the past 40 years, the circuit courts have acknowledged a ministerial exception to Title VII and other anti-discrimination laws that gives churches the freedom to determine who serves in ministerial roles as a voice of a church’s faith. In January of 2012, the Supreme Court officially adopted the exception into its jurisprudence. The opinion, however, left many questions unanswered. Mainly, the decision failed to give any guidance to lower courts regarding who is and who is not a minister. This article traces the history of the ministerial exception and the church autonomy doctrine back to the Religion Clauses in …


How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sharia? Awad V. Ziriax And The Question Of Sharia Law In America, Jeremy Grunert Apr 2013

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sharia? Awad V. Ziriax And The Question Of Sharia Law In America, Jeremy Grunert

Pepperdine Law Review

In the 2010 midterm elections, the citizens of Oklahoma passed a ballot initiative barring Oklahoma courts from considering the tenets of Islamic Sharia law in their judicial decisions. This initiative was passed in the midst of a nation-wide debate on the nature of Sharia law, in which numerous states began to take legislative steps to ban or limit the application of Sharia. Oklahoma’s law was the first to explicitly ban Sharia, and it was immediately challenged by a Muslim plaintiff for violating the Constitution’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. This Article examines the resulting case, Awad v. Ziriax, and the …


I Want My Mtv, But Not Your Vh1: A La Carte Cable, Bundling, And The Potential Great Cable Compromise, Holly Phillips Apr 2013

I Want My Mtv, But Not Your Vh1: A La Carte Cable, Bundling, And The Potential Great Cable Compromise, Holly Phillips

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.


Fair Play: The Tension Between An Athletic Association's Regulatory Power And Free Speech Rights Of Member Schools - The Practical Implications Of Tennessee V. Brentwood, Aaron Echols Apr 2013

Fair Play: The Tension Between An Athletic Association's Regulatory Power And Free Speech Rights Of Member Schools - The Practical Implications Of Tennessee V. Brentwood, Aaron Echols

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This case note focuses on the development of free speech rights and how those free speech rights co-exist with the rights of administrative bodies to regulate the speech and behavior of members. In particular, this case note examines the tension between the free speech rights of member schools trying to advertise the benefits of attending their school and the regulatory interests of an athletic association seeking to ensure fair athletic competition and academic priority over athletics.


Journalists, Trespass, And Officials: Closing The Door On Florida Publishing Co. V. Fletcher , Kent R. Middleton Jan 2013

Journalists, Trespass, And Officials: Closing The Door On Florida Publishing Co. V. Fletcher , Kent R. Middleton

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Hustler Magazine, Inc. V. Falwell: Laugh Or Cry, Public Figures Must Learn To Live With Satirical Criticism , James R. Laguzza Jan 2013

Hustler Magazine, Inc. V. Falwell: Laugh Or Cry, Public Figures Must Learn To Live With Satirical Criticism , James R. Laguzza

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Thornburgh V. Abbott: Slamming The Prison Gates On Constitutional Rights, Megan M. Mcdonald Jan 2013

Thornburgh V. Abbott: Slamming The Prison Gates On Constitutional Rights, Megan M. Mcdonald

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Texas V. Johnson: The Constitutional Protection Of Flag Desecration, Patricia Lofton Jan 2013

Texas V. Johnson: The Constitutional Protection Of Flag Desecration, Patricia Lofton

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Neutrality And The Good Of Religious Freedom: An Appreciative Response To Professor Koppelman, Richard W. Garnett Jan 2013

Neutrality And The Good Of Religious Freedom: An Appreciative Response To Professor Koppelman, Richard W. Garnett

Pepperdine Law Review

This paper is a short response to an address, “And I Don’t Care What It Is: Religious Neutrality in American Law,” delivered by Prof. Andrew Koppelman at a conference, “The Competing Claims of Law and Religion: Who Should Influence Whom?”, which was held at Pepperdine University in February of 2012. In this response, it is suggested – among other things – that “American religious neutrality” is, as Koppelman argues, “coherent and attractive” because and to the extent that it is not neutral with respect to the goal and good of religious freedom. Religious freedom, in the American tradition, is not …


Can We Please Stop Talking About Neutrality? Koppelman Between Scalia And Rawls, Chad Flanders Jan 2013

Can We Please Stop Talking About Neutrality? Koppelman Between Scalia And Rawls, Chad Flanders

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


And I Don’T Care What It Is: Religious Neutrality In American Law, Andrew Koppelman Jan 2013

And I Don’T Care What It Is: Religious Neutrality In American Law, Andrew Koppelman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.