Law Commons^™

Appellate Division, First Department - Parkhouse V. Stringer, Alyssa Dunn

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

United States V. Stevens: Win, Loss, Or Draw For Animals?, David N. Cassuto

David N Cassuto

Robert J. Stevens, proprietor of “Dogs of Velvet and Steel,” was indicted for marketing dog-fighting videos in violation of 18 U.S.C. §48, a law criminalizing visual or auditory depictions of animals being “intentionally mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed” if such conduct violated federal or state law where “the creation, sale, or possession [of such materials]” takes place.” The law aimed principally at makers and distributors of “crush videos” wherein women wearing high heels and depicted from the waist down, grind small animals to death. However, the language of 18 U.S.C. §48 extended to dog-fighting as well. Stevens challenged the law …

Responsibility To Regulate: How The ‘Responsibility To Protect’ Expands State Power, Philip Cunliffe

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Like most UN reports, particularly those concerned with the doctrine of the "responsibility to protect" (RtoP), the latest report of the UN Secretary-General is filled with plenty of pious guff mixed in with the platitudes that engulf UN diplomacy. But buried within the blathering are also some disturbing prescriptions for how the UN envisages rolling out RtoP around the world. I want to draw attention to three specific points in order to consider what these tell us about RtoP as a political model. First, I will look at the treatment of media and speech in the report; second, how the …

Defining Religion Down: Hasanna-Tabor, Martinez, And The U.S. Supreme Court, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

While two recent Supreme Court cases on religious freedom appear sharply at odds, in one material respect they harmonize around an understanding that religion is fully protected only when exercised in private. CLS v. Martinez involved Hastings College of Law. Hastings' regulation of extracurricular organizations was unusual in requiring that any student can join an organization. This all-comers rule had a discriminatory impact on organizations with exclusionary memberships, such as the Christian Legal Society (CLS) which required subscribing to a statement of faith and conduct. The Court acknowledged the discriminatory effect, but said that the Free Speech Clause protects speech …

Public Forum 2.1: Public Higher Education Institutions And Social Media, Robert H. Jerry Ii, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

Like most of us, public colleges and universities increasingly are communicating via Facebook, Second Life, YouTube, Twitter and other social media. Unlike most of us, public colleges and universities are government actors, and their social media communications present complex administrative and First Amendment challenges. The authors of this article — one the dean of a major public university law school responsible for directing its social media strategies, the other a scholar of social media and the First Amendment — have combined their expertise to help public university officials address these challenges. To that end, this article first examines current and …

The Fight For Free Speech, Even If It's Offensive, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.

The Disappearing Schoolhouse Gate: Applying Tinker In The Internet Age , John T. Ceglia

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Liable For Your Lies: Misrepresentation Law As A Mechanism For Regulating Behavior On Social Networking Sites, Geelan Fahimy

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional Jurisprudence Of Justice Kennedy On Speech, Charles D. Kelso, R. Randal Kelso

San Diego Law Review

Justice Kennedy's basic principles in free speech cases are supporting political freedom, supporting individual autonomy, and protecting freedom to teach, learn, and innovate. Given these principles, his opinions in free speech cases protect free speech from government regulation unless the government can provide strong reasons for any restrictive action and show that the means it has chosen to carry out its purposes are closely tailored to its goals. At a minimum, judicial review is by strict scrutiny for content-based regulations and intermediate review for content-neutral time, place, and manner regulations. In some cases, Justice Kennedy has indicated a preference for …

Adolescent Identity Versus The First Amendment: Sexuality And Speech Rights In The Public Schools, Steven J. Macias

San Diego Law Review

This Article examines the legal tensions that currently exist between public schools' attempts to protect gay students from bullying and harassment and antigay students' First Amendment rights to engage in allegedly harassing speech. First, it looks at the popular conception of the relationship between childhood or adolescence and sexuality by considering the political and legal fallout of the same-sex marriage debate. Then this Article turns to a conception of public schooling that would allow for the constitutionally permissible regulation of antigay-identity speech. Next, through the use of critical theory, this Article explains why First Amendment defenses to gay harassment have …

All Those Like You: Identity Aggression And Student Speech , Ari Ezra Waldman

Missouri Law Review

This Article answers two categories of questions, one social and another legal. The first series of questions is about the sociology of identity aggression and it seeks to determine whether there is a difference between, say, calling someone a "faggot" and calling someone a "dork." If there is a difference, to what extent is there empirical evidence that suggests that one is more harmful to the victim, to his community, and to his school? The legal problem flows directly from the relative harm posed by identity aggression: it is too simplistic to see the Court's student speech jurisprudence like a …

Freedom Of Speech And The ‘Occupy’ Protests: ‘Narrowly Tailored To Further Significant Government Interests’, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

This note examines the spate of recent court decisions concerning efforts by Occupy protestors in various cities of the USA to prevent the removal (or restriction) of their protests. In general, though by no means in all cases, the courts, applying existing freedom of speech principles, have upheld the protestors’ right to protest to some extent but have placed narrow limits around the manner in which this right may be exercised. Following a short introduction (Part 1), Part 2 discuses the approach which has been taken by the courts in recent cases. The approach adopted contrasts sharply with the Supreme …

S12rs Sgr No. 6 (Free Speech Rules), Covell, Glorioso

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

S12rs Sgr No. 13 (Free Speech Take Two), Covell, Glorioso

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

No abstract provided.

Big Censorship In The Big House—A Quarter-Century After Turner V. Safley: Muting Movies, Music & Books Behind Bars, Clay Calvert, Kara Carnley Murrhee

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Turner v. Safley, this Article examines how federal courts across the country are applying the Turner standard today in cases involving the First Amendment free speech rights of inmates. Are courts too quick today to support the censorial proclivities of prison officials? Do judges too readily capitulate in deference to the concerns of those tasked with overseeing the incarcerated? Those are the key questions this Article addresses by analyzing inmate access to magazines, movies, books, and other common forms of media artifacts. This Article’s determinations stem from …

The Future Of Cybertravel: Legal Implications Of The Evasion Of Geolocation, Marketa Trimble

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Although the Internet is valued by many of its supporters particularly because it both defies and defeats physical borders, these important attributes are now being exposed to attempts by both governments and private entities to impose territorial limits through blocking or permitting access to content by Internet users based on their geographical location — a territorial partitioning of the Internet. One of these attempts, for example, is the recent Stop Online Piracy Act (“SOPA”) proposal in the United States. This article, as opposed to earlier literature on the topic discussing the possible virtues and methods of raising borders in cyberspace, …

E-Incitement: A Framework For Regulating The Incitement Of Criminal Flash Mobs, Hannah Steinblatt

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Details: Specific Facts And The First Amendment, Ashutosh A. Bhagwat

Ashutosh Bhagwat

First Amendment theory and judicial decisions have traditionally focused their analysis primarily on the regulation and suppression of ideas, opinions, and advocacy. The great free speech disputes of the Twentieth Century have produced a robust body of law which, at least in the political sphere, gives very strong protection to such speech. But ideas and opinions are not the only sorts of information conveyed by speech. What about facts, and in particular, what about specific facts, what I call details? Cases such as New York Times v. Sullivan and its progeny discuss the proper treatment of false facts, but what …

Details: Specific Facts And The First Amendment, Ashutosh A. Bhagwat

Ashutosh Bhagwat

First Amendment theory and judicial decisions have traditionally focused their analysis primarily on the regulation and suppression of ideas, opinions, and advocacy. The great free speech disputes of the Twentieth Century have produced a robust body of law which, at least in the political sphere, gives very strong protection to such speech. But ideas and opinions are not the only sorts of information conveyed by speech. What about facts, and in particular, what about specific facts, what I call details? Cases such as New York Times v. Sullivan and its progeny discuss the proper treatment of false facts, but what …

The Structural Constitutional Principle Of Republican Legitimacy, Mark D. Rosen

Mark D. Rosen

Representative democracy does not spontaneously occur by citizens gathering to choose laws. Instead, republicanism takes place within an extensive legal framework that determines who gets to vote, how campaigns are conducted, what conditions must be met for representatives to make valid law, and many other things. Many of the “rules-of-the-road” that operationalize republicanism have been subject to constitutional challenges in recent decades. For example, lawsuits have been brought against “partisan gerrymandering” (which has led to most congressional districts not being party-competitive, but instead being safely Republican or Democratic) and against onerous voter identification requirements (which reduce the voting rates of …

When Is A Lie An Affront To The Law?, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.

Snyder V. Phelps And Th Unfortunate Death Of Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress As A Speech-Based Tort, Ww Hopkins Ph.D.

WW Hopkins Ph.D.

Beginning with New York Times Co. v. Sullivan and extending to Hustler Magazine v. Falwell and beyond, the Supreme Court of the United States established a reasonable balance between free speech interests and the rights of private persons not involved in matters of public debate from personal, verbal attacks. The framework for that protection was the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, which required plaintiffs to overcome an onerous burden of proof in order to prevail. In March 2011, however, the Court ruled in Snyder v. Phelps that the verbal attack of the Westboro Baptist Church against Albert Snyder …

University Of Baltimore Symposium Report: Debut Of “The Matthew Fogg Symposia On The Vitality Of Stare Decisis In America”, Zena D. Crenshaw-Logal

Zena Denise Crenshaw-Logal

On the first of each two day symposium of the Fogg symposia, lawyers representing NGOs in the civil rights, judicial reform, and whistleblower advocacy fields are to share relevant work of featured legal scholars in lay terms; relate the underlying principles to real life cases; and propose appropriate reform efforts. Four (4) of the scholars spend the next day relating their featured articles to views on the vitality of stare decisis. Specifically, the combined panels of public interest attorneys and law professors consider whether compliance with the doctrine is reasonably assured in America given the: 1. considerable discretion vested in …

Dropping F-Bombs At The Supreme Court, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.

Antisemitism In The Academic Voice: Confronting Bigotry Under The First Amendment, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

The romanticized vision of life in the Ivory Tower - a peaceful haven where learned professors ponder higher thoughts and where students roam orderly quadrangles in quest of truth and other pleasures - has long been relegated to yesteryear. While universities like to nurture the perception that they are protectors of reasoned discourse, and indeed often perceive themselves as sacrosanct places of culture in a chaotic world, the modern campus, of course, is not quite so wonderful.

This chapter examines the relationship between antisemitic and anti-Zionist speech and conduct, how they both play out on contemporary university campuses - and …

Rules Of General Applicability, Jeffrey Shaman

College of Law Faculty

In some instances, the Supreme Court has held that, despite their restrictive effect upon speech or religion, rules of general applicability are exempt from oversight under the First Amendment. In Arcara v. Cloud Books, the Court ruled that the Free Speech Clause was not violated by a rule of general applicability even where it had a restrictive effect upon expressive activity. Arcara was an isolated decision that has enjoyed little influence in subsequent decisions involving free speech. On the other hand, in Employment Division v. Smith, the Court effectuated a major doctrinal revision to the Free Exercise Clause by ruling …

The Structural Constitutional Principle Of Republican Legitimacy, Mark D. Rosen

All Faculty Scholarship

Representative democracy does not spontaneously occur by citizens gathering to choose laws. Instead, republicanism takes place within an extensive legal framework that determines who gets to vote, how campaigns are conducted, what conditions must be met for representatives to make valid law, and many other things. Many of the “rules-of-the-road” that operationalize republicanism have been subject to constitutional challenges in recent decades. For example, lawsuits have been brought against “partisan gerrymandering” (which has led to most congressional districts not being party-competitive, but instead being safely Republican or Democratic) and against onerous voter identification requirements (which reduce the voting rates of …

Private Rights And Public Wrongs: Fair Use As A Remedy For Private Censorship, Stephen J. Mcintyre

Stephen J McIntyre

Copyright law seeks to promote the public welfare by incentivizing the creation and publication of art, literature, and other original works of authorship. The law bestows exclusive economic rights in expression, which allow copyright holders to exploit the commercial value of their creations in the marketplace. This affords a high degree of control over when and how others use copyright-protected works. These rights, however, are not absolute. The 'fair use' doctrine has traditionally permitted unauthorized and uncompensated uses of copyrighted material for socially beneficial purposes. Under current jurisprudence, the fair use analysis is dominated by concerns about market harm. The …

Will Free Speech Get A License To Drive In Florida?: A Proposal For Distinguishing Free Speech From Government Speech In Florida Specialty Plate Cases, Christopher Robert Dillingham Ii

Florida A & M University Law Review

Specialty license plates for automobiles, which publish individual and special interest Free Speech, present a quagmire for the courts when analyzed through the lens of the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause. While citizens and groups can obtain personalized license plates that publish both symbolic and written speech, state governments often exercise strict editorial control over their license plates. This regulatory scenario raises the dual questions of who is speaking - the government or the private party - and how much constitutional power the government has to engage in viewpoint restriction in regulating that speech in this traditional government forum. The …

Freedom Of Speech Vs. The Right To Privacy: Problems With The English Super Injunction, Nicci Fillinger

Honors Theses

Free speech. The words of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States are close to hearts of Americans, especially journalists. However, not every country has the same amount of freedom granted in the US, and most Americans recognize this. Countries such as China, North Korea, and Libya are notorious for media censorship, but Americans would not typically add England to this list. In recent years, however, cases of media censorship in England that would shock journalists have come to light.

Controversy over censorship results from tension between Article 8 and Article 10 of the European Convention on …