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Billboards, Aesthetics, And The First Amendment: Municipal Sign Regulation After Metromedia, Alan Weinstein Aug 1984

Billboards, Aesthetics, And The First Amendment: Municipal Sign Regulation After Metromedia, Alan Weinstein

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego, 453 U.S. 490 (1981), 33 ZD 238, the U.S. Supreme Court, although sharply divided, held that states and municipalities could regulate signs and billboards to reduce traffic hazards and improve a community's appearance, but cautioned that regulations which imposed too many restrictions on protected First Amendment rights to freedom of speech would be struck down. The nine Supreme Court justices wrote five separate opinions in Metromedia, struggling to find a workable accommodation between free speech guarantees and the deference normally granted to a municipality's exercise of the police power.' This article, after …

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The Press And The Public Interest: An Essay On The Relationship Between Social Behavior And The Language Of First Amendment Theory, Lee C. Bollinger May 1984

The Press And The Public Interest: An Essay On The Relationship Between Social Behavior And The Language Of First Amendment Theory, Lee C. Bollinger

Michigan Law Review

I would like to explore in this essay one aspect of the contemporary American debate over the theory of freedom of speech and press. The subject I want to address is this: whether the principle of freedom of speech and press should be viewed as protecting some personal or individual interest in speaking and writing or whether it should be seen as fostering a collective or public interest. Sometimes this issue is stated as being whether the first amendment protects a "right to speak" or a "right to hear," though in general the problem seems to be whether we should …

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In Search Of A Free Speech Principle, Mark G. Yudof Feb 1984