Law Commons^™

Liberal Visions Of The Freedom Of The Press, Michael Gerhardt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Liberals have long regarded the First Amendment's freedom of the press guarantee as their special plaything.' For most of this century, liberals have dominated the scholarship and the doctrinal debate on the freedom of the press. They have often urged the federal courts to establish the press as "a fourth institution outside the Government as an additional check on the three official branches." Liberal judges have ensured virtual autonomy for the print media through the cumulative effect of their rulings to immunize the press from damages for the publication of falsehoods about public figures unless the publication was done knowingly, …

Barnes V. Glen Theatre, Inc.: Nude Dancing And The First Amendment Question, Zachary T. Fardon

Vanderbilt Law Review

Erotic dancers Gayle Sutro, Carla Johnson, and Darlene Miller can no longer dance nude in Indiana. In Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. the United States Supreme Court held that Indiana's prohibition of nude dancing did not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court's holding ended years of controversy and debate over Indiana's public indecency statute.

In 1979, in State v. Baysinger, the Indiana Supreme Court held that Indiana's public indecency statute could be used to prohibit nude dancing. The court stated that the statute could not prohibit some larger forms of expression involving the communication of …