Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- First Amendment (12)
- Free speech (4)
- Defamation (3)
- Disinformation (3)
- First amendment (3)
-
- Speech (3)
- Anti-SLAPP (2)
- Constitutional Law (2)
- Constitutional law (2)
- Establishment Clause (2)
- Free Speech (2)
- Freedom of Speech (2)
- Libel (2)
- Public forum (2)
- Religion (2)
- Social media (2)
- Academic freedom (1)
- Actual malice (1)
- Advertising (1)
- Advocacy (1)
- American Founding (1)
- Anti-SLAPP statutes (1)
- Anti-discrimination laws (1)
- Ascertainable (1)
- Avatar (1)
- Bias (1)
- Bormuth (1)
- COVID-19 (1)
- California anti-SLAPP (1)
- Campaign finance (1)
Articles 1 - 20 of 20
Full-Text Articles in Law
Where To Place The “Nones” In The Church And State Debate? Empirical Evidence From Establishment Clause Cases In Federal Court, Gregory C. Sisk, Michael Heise
Where To Place The “Nones” In The Church And State Debate? Empirical Evidence From Establishment Clause Cases In Federal Court, Gregory C. Sisk, Michael Heise
St. John's Law Review
In this third iteration of our ongoing empirical examination of religious liberty decisions in the lower federal courts, we studied all digested Establishment Clause decisions by federal circuit and district court judges from 2006 through 2015. The first clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution directs that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” That provision has generated decades of controversy regarding the appropriate role of religion in public life.
Holding key variables constant, we found that Catholic judges approved Establishment Clause claims at a 29.6% rate, compared with a 41.5% rate before non-Catholic …
Disinformation And The First Amendment: Fraud On The Public, Wes Henricksen
Disinformation And The First Amendment: Fraud On The Public, Wes Henricksen
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
Following the 2020 presidential election, the losing candidate, Donald Trump, along with most of the Republican Party, spread the false claim that the election had been stolen by Democrats. Joe Biden, so the claim went, had not been legitimately elected, and was therefore an illegitimate President and needed to be removed. This profitable falsehood6 became known as the “Big Lie.” It was not only baseless, but it was in fact made in spite of and in direct conflict with the overwhelming evidence debunking it. This did not stop people from believing it. Millions bought into the Big Lie, which …
The Last Lecture: State Anti-Slapp Statutes And The Federal Courts, Charles W. Adams, Mbilike M. Mwafulirwa
The Last Lecture: State Anti-Slapp Statutes And The Federal Courts, Charles W. Adams, Mbilike M. Mwafulirwa
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
An old proverb says that “when the student is ready[,] the teacher appears.” In this collaborative effort, a civil procedure law professor has partnered with his former student to address one of the most challenging topics to confront the federal courts in recent times: whether state anti-SLAPP statutes conflict with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The acronym “SLAPP” stands for “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.” Anti-SLAPP statutes are a spate of state legislation of recent vintage, designed “to give more breathing space for free speech about contentious public issues” and to “try to decrease the ‘chilling effect’ of …
Inherent Powers And The Limits Of Public Health Fake News, Michael P. Goodyear
Inherent Powers And The Limits Of Public Health Fake News, Michael P. Goodyear
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
In a Vero Beach, Florida, supermarket, Susan Wiles rode her motorized cart through the produce aisle. In any year other than 2020 or 2021, this would have been a routine trip to the grocery store. But in 2020, Mrs. Wiles was missing an accessory that had become ubiquitous in society during that year: a face mask. Despite causing a commotion, Mrs. Wiles stood by her decision, claiming that the concerns about COVID-19 were overblown: “I don’t fall for this. It’s not what they say it is.” Mrs. Wiles’ statement is emblematic of the year 2020. This is not the …
Reckless Abandon: The Shadow Of Model Rule 8.4(G) And A Path Forward, Margaret Tarkington
Reckless Abandon: The Shadow Of Model Rule 8.4(G) And A Path Forward, Margaret Tarkington
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
In August 2016, the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) Board of Governors approved Model Rule of Professional Conduct (“MRPC”) 8.4(g) as a model for state adoption. The Rule makes it professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in “harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status.” Curbing harassment and discrimination is a critically important goal. However, the actual Rule as promulgated reaches far beyond prohibiting sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination. Instead the comments to the Rule define discrimination and harassment broadly to prohibit speech …
Protecting Women's Voices: Preventing Retaliatory Defamation Claims In The #Metoo Context, Nicole Ligon
Protecting Women's Voices: Preventing Retaliatory Defamation Claims In The #Metoo Context, Nicole Ligon
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
As part of a personal commitment to positively utilize my legal skills, I joined the Legal Network for Gender Equity, a group of attorneys who support individuals seeking to come forward about their experiences with sexual harassment and assault. Through this network, I regularly counsel women who want to share their stories but are concerned that by doing so, they may open themselves up to costly defamation suits from their aggressors. Their concerns are not so much rooted in any notion that their stories are or could actually be defamatory. Instead, these concerns often stem from a recognition that …
Free Speech Has Gotten Very Expensive: Rethinking Political Speech Regulation In A Post-Truth World, John A. Barrett, Jr.
Free Speech Has Gotten Very Expensive: Rethinking Political Speech Regulation In A Post-Truth World, John A. Barrett, Jr.
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
Protecting free speech has been a foundational principle of American democracy since the nation’s founding. A core element of free speech has long been a prohibition on regulating political speech. The principle behind this protection holds that citizens are free to make whatever political pronouncements they wish and that their speech shall remain free from government suppression. Even within the limited exceptions to unfettered political speech, like defamation or libel, the speech is not banned but may merely result in liability. A premise underlying this view is that competing viewpoints, by being made available to us all, will allow …
Why Liberalism Persists: The Neglected Life Of The Law In The Story Of Liberalism's Decline, Kenneth L. Townsend
Why Liberalism Persists: The Neglected Life Of The Law In The Story Of Liberalism's Decline, Kenneth L. Townsend
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
Liberalism is in decline in the West. Past political divides that pitted classically liberal conservatives against moderate to progressive political liberals are giving way to a new landscape in which a liberal consensus simply cannot be assumed. From the left, socialist and identity-based critiques of liberalism have called into question core liberal assumptions regarding procedural justice, the division between public and private realms, and the rights of individuals. From the right, an increasingly vocal group of conservatives is questioning classical liberalism’s commitment to limited government, a free market, and individual rights in favor of a vision of political community …
The Limits Of Permissible Judicial Campaign Speech In New York, Vito M. Destefano
The Limits Of Permissible Judicial Campaign Speech In New York, Vito M. Destefano
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
In December 2018, New York’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics (“ACJE”), which I proudly served on for ten years, issued Opinion 17-28, concerning an inquiry by a judicial candidate as to whether he or she could respond to a candidate questionnaire prepared by the New York State Right to Life Committee (“RTL questionnaire”). In the RTL questionnaire, the candidate is asked a series of questions concerning the candidate’s personal beliefs on abortion, the beginning of life, Roe v. Wade, the definition of personhood, the New York and United States Constitutions, and so on. Each question asking for the …
Review Law: New York Defamation Applied To Online Consumer Reviews, Ian Lewis-Slammon
Review Law: New York Defamation Applied To Online Consumer Reviews, Ian Lewis-Slammon
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
In early July 2017, Michelle Levine booked her first and only appointment with gynecologist Dr. Joon Song for an annual exam. Ms. Levine had a dissatisfying experience with the office. She claims that Dr. Song’s office did not follow up with her for almost a month, and that when she called to ask about the results of a blood test, Dr. Song’s staff falsely informed her that she tested positive for herpes. To top it off, Ms. Levine alleges that the office overcharged her. Following this experience, Ms. Levine did what many others do when dissatisfied with a product …
Guess Who? Reducing The Role Of Juries In Determining Libel Plaintiffs' Identities, Nat Stern
Guess Who? Reducing The Role Of Juries In Determining Libel Plaintiffs' Identities, Nat Stern
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
During the nomination hearings for now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, considerable attention was drawn to a high school friend’s memoir featuring a fellow student named “Bart O’Kavanaugh.” By the memoir’s account, “O’Kavanaugh” in one episode blacked out—apparently from alcohol—on his return from a party. For any number of possible reasons, Justice Kavanaugh did not bring a libel suit against the book’s author. If he had, however, a crucial threshold issue—preceding questions of falsity and intent—would have been whether the memoir’s portrayal of “O’Kavanaugh” amounted to a false depiction of Kavanaugh himself. In the parlance of defamation doctrine, Justice Kavanaugh would have …
Government Speech Doctrine—Legislator-Led Prayer's Saving Grace, Daniel M. Vitagliano
Government Speech Doctrine—Legislator-Led Prayer's Saving Grace, Daniel M. Vitagliano
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
This Note argues that Lund was decided incorrectly in part because the Fourth Circuit failed to analyze the type of speech at issue before assessing the constitutionality of the prayer practice. This Note is composed of four parts. Part I surveys the Supreme Court’s legislative prayer jurisprudence—Marsh and Town of Greece. Part II outlines Lund and Bormuth, and the Fourth and Sixth Circuits’ dissimilar applications of the Supreme Court’s precedent. Part III argues that courts must first classify legislative prayers as either government or private speech before assessing whether a prayer practice violates the Establishment Clause. It further argues …
Free Exercise Standing: Extra-Centrality As Injury In Fact, Brendan T. Beery
Free Exercise Standing: Extra-Centrality As Injury In Fact, Brendan T. Beery
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
Part I of this Article surveys standing doctrine generally and tackles the problem of psychic insult—what might fairly, in some cases, be characterized as hurt feelings—as an injury. Part II addresses the special problems of finding concrete and palpable injuries in religion cases, noting that it is more difficult to identify such injuries in Establishment Clause cases than in free exercise cases. When free exercise is viewed as dynamic and kinetic, free exercise injuries are discernible and concrete: they occur when a person is forced to participate in religious undertakings or express beliefs against his or her will, or …
Augmenting Our Reality: The (Un)Official Strategy Guide To Providing First Amendment Protection For Players And Designers Of Location-Based Augmented Reality Video Games, Colleen Signorelli
Augmenting Our Reality: The (Un)Official Strategy Guide To Providing First Amendment Protection For Players And Designers Of Location-Based Augmented Reality Video Games, Colleen Signorelli
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
Specifically, this Note will argue that the First Amendment applies to location-based augmented reality games in public forums, and, furthermore, the First Amendment protects designers and players of location-based augmented reality games in public forums. This Note will not discuss these location-based games within the context of privacy rights or trespassing, issues that have been written about elsewhere. Part I of this Note will explore the law regarding freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in public forums, and permissible regulations of speech and assembly, including time, place, and manner restrictions and prior restraints, such as permits. Part II …
Free Speech, Public Safety, & Controversial Speakers: Balancing Universities' Dual Roles After Charlottesville, Elisabeth E. Constantino
Free Speech, Public Safety, & Controversial Speakers: Balancing Universities' Dual Roles After Charlottesville, Elisabeth E. Constantino
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
This Note seeks to develop an approach to hateful and controversial speech that protects First Amendment values and students alike. Part I discusses the legal backdrop and First Amendment tradition that underlies a permissive view of hateful speech on university campuses. Part I also discusses the roots of time, place, and manner regulations and the public forum doctrine, both of which recent legislation invokes. Part II provides a timeline of events that have highlighted the tension between free speech and public safety on campuses. Part II also discusses the eruption of legislation that these events inspired. Finally, Part III …
Reasonable Action: Reproductive Rights, The Free Exercise Clause, And Religious Freedom In The United States And The Republic Of Ireland, Liam Ray
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
This Note will argue that by denying certiorari in Stormans v. Wiesman, the Supreme Court missed an important opportunity to provide guidance to the states as to how the Free Exercise Clause applies to the kind of stocking and dispensing regulations adopted by the State of Washington. This Note will further argue from a policy perspective that the approach to these kinds of regulations adopted by the Republic of Ireland (“ROI”) presents the best approach for states to adopt because it provides a balance in terms of respecting the free exercise rights of pharmacists and pharmacy owners with …
An Antitrust Approach To Corporate Free Exercise Claims, Ronald J. Colombo
An Antitrust Approach To Corporate Free Exercise Claims, Ronald J. Colombo
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
This Article suggests that antitrust law’s concept of market power could similarly be employed in balancing the free exercise rights of a corporation or any for-profit business venture against the rights of individuals. When a business enterprise seeks a religious liberty exemption from a rights-granting law, a major factor in assessing its claim should be the degree to which it wields market power in the relevant market. If the business is a monopolist, and, a fortiori, wielding tremendous market power, its claim for a free exercise exemption should probably fail. If, conversely, the business is but a minor marketplace …
Locked Up, Shut Up: Why Speech In Prison Matters, Evan Bianchi, David Shapiro
Locked Up, Shut Up: Why Speech In Prison Matters, Evan Bianchi, David Shapiro
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
This Article proceeds in three Parts. Part I describes the deferential Turner standard that governs First Amendment claims brought by prisoners. Virtually every word uttered or written to a prisoner and virtually every word uttered or written by a prisoner receives extremely limited legal protection. Largely as a result of this legal regime, senseless censorship is all too common in American prisons. Jailers and prison officials seem to have received the message that they can ban speech with impunity.
Part II argues that the combination of Turner deference and mass incarceration divests prisoners of expressive power, thereby distorting public …
Professional Standards And The First Amendment In Higher Education: When Institutional Academic Freedom Collides With Student Speech Rights, Clay Calvert
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
Using the decisions in Keefe, Oyama and Tatro as analytical springboards, this Article examines rising tensions between institutional academic freedom and the First Amendment speech rights of college students. Specifically, the friction addressed here occurs when universities enforce external professional standards on students within their curricula. Initially, Part I provides a primer on institutional academic freedom. Part II then contrasts the vastly deferential Hazelwood approach to professional-standards disputes embraced by the Eighth Circuit in Keefe with the somewhat more rigorous ones adopted by the Ninth Circuit in Oyama and Minnesota’s Supreme Court in Tatro.
Part III then …
Can You Understand This Message? An Examination Of Hurley V. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group Of Boston's Impact On Spence V. Washington, Sandy Tomasik
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
This Note analyzes the effect that Hurley had on the Spence factors and suggests that the particularized requirement has been lowered. This is the best approach to encouraging speech while balancing other important interests. Part I discusses the development of the freedom of speech, from protecting the spoken and written word to protecting expressive conduct. Part II outlines the different approaches taken by the circuit courts in deciding whether conduct is protected as speech and, in particular, what effect Hurley had on Spence. Part III critically analyzes each of these approaches and concludes that the Eleventh Circuit’s approach …