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To Drink The Cup Of Fury: Funeral Picketing, Public Discourse And The First Amendment, Steven J. Heyman
To Drink The Cup Of Fury: Funeral Picketing, Public Discourse And The First Amendment, Steven J. Heyman
All Faculty Scholarship
In Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court held that the Westboro Baptist Church had a First Amendment right to picket the funeral of a young soldier killed in Iraq. This decision reinforces a position that has become increasingly prevalent in First Amendment jurisprudence – the view that the state may not regulate public discourse to protect individuals from emotional or dignitary injury. In this Article, I argue that this view is deeply problematic for two reasons: it unduly sacrifices the value of individual personality and it tends to undermine the sphere of public discourse itself by negating the practical and …
Newsgathering In Light Of Hipaa, Alexander A. Boni-Saenz
Newsgathering In Light Of Hipaa, Alexander A. Boni-Saenz
All Faculty Scholarship
This short piece examines the interaction between the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a federal law designed to protect the privacy of individuals’ health information, and state Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, which are designed to ensure public access to government documents. It describes three recent cases from different states that addressed difficult issues about where and how to draw the line between the public’s right to know and individuals’ rights to keep their medical information secret. It concludes that questions about the interaction of state FOI laws and HIPAA should be guided by the framework suggested in …