Law Commons^™

Brief Of Amicus Curiae Professors Elizabeth A. Clark, Robert F. Cochran, Jr., Carl H. Esbeck, David F. Forte, Richard W. Garnett, Christopher C. Lund, Michael W. Mcconnell, Michael P. Moreland, Robert J. Pushaw, And David A., Skeel, Supporting Petitioners, David Forte, Elizabeth A. Clark, Robert F. Cochran Jr., Carl H. Esbeck, Richard W. Garnett, Christopher C. Lund, Michael W. Mcconnell, Michael P. Moreland, Robert J. Pushaw, David A. Skeel

Law Faculty Briefs and Court Documents

The case concerns the "church autonomy doctrine" based on the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, which declares that courts may not inquire into matters of church government or into disputes of faith and doctrine. Will McRaney was fired from a leadership position in the Southern Baptist Convention because of a conflict over policies relating to the expansion of the Baptist faith. He sued the Southern Baptist Convention in tort.

The district court dismissed the suit on the grounds of the church autonomy doctrine. The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal as "premature," asserting that there were possible …

Corporations "Pac" A Punch: Corporate Involvement's Influence In Elections And A Proposal For Public Campaign Financing In Ohio, Taylor Hagen

Cleveland State Law Review

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision ruled that limiting corporate spending in elections violates the First Amendment right to free speech. With this decision, the Supreme Court overturned election spending restrictions that dated back more than a century. Before Citizens United v. FEC was decided, the Court had previously held that these restrictions were permissible because there is a governmental interest in preventing election and campaign corruption. Now, corporations may expend unlimited funds for outside election spending, to super PACs, and may even establish their own PACs. Increased corporate involvement in elections has deteriorated American …

The Nfl Player, The Schoolchild, And The Entertainer: When The Term "Free Speech" Is Too Freely Spoken, Exactly "Who's On First?", Christian Ketter

Cleveland State Law Review

As America’s media and politicians continue to debate the free speech rights of NFL players, schoolchildren, and entertainers, the dialogue has confused many Americans as to what exactly the First Amendment protects. Chief Justice John G. Roberts ultimately assumes the role of an umpire in many of these issues, guiding the United States Supreme Court to incrementally “call balls and strikes.” In recent years, the Court has umpired employment rights and state action cases, and Roberts’s calls will likely further distance the Court that decided Morse v. Frederick from the one that decided Tinker v. Des Moines. Amid a …

Inseparable: Perspective Of Senator Daniel Webster, Ernest M. Oleksy

The Downtown Review

Considering the hypersensitivity that their nation has towards race relations, it is often ineffable to contemporary Americans as to how anyone could have argued against abolition in the 19th century. However, by taking the perspective of Senator Daniel Webster speaking to an audience of disunionist-abolitionists, proslaveryites, and various shades of moderates, numerous points of contention will be brought to light as to why chattel slavery persisted so long in the U.S. Focal points of dialogue will include the Narrative of Frederick Douglass, the "positive good" claims of Senator John C. Calhoun, the disunionism of William Lloyd Garrison, and the defense …

“Fire Away”: I Have No Right To Not Be Insulted, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

In theory, universities are the institutions that are responsible for advancing our freedom of thought and discourse through the work of independent scholars and the teaching of each generation of students. But for several decades, universities and other educational institutions have increasingly set up rules aimed at protecting individuals and groups from criticism that those newly empowered individuals and groups consider insensitive, offensive, harassing, intolerant and disrespectful, or critical of their core belief systems. Even though it has been claimed that disadvantaged interest groups have a right to use one-sided tactics of intolerance against those they consider to be responsible …

School Board Control Over Education And A Teacher's Right To Privacy, Ralph Mawdsley

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Privacy as a protected right for employees in the United States is grounded in several constitutional provisions. Most generally, the notion of privacy is associated with confidentiality of information , which is protected under both the Liberty Clause of the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment and the Fourth Amendment's protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. However, an expanded understanding of privacy can find protection under the concepts of the right of association protected under the Liberty Clause and the First Amendment, expression of ideas under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, and practice of one's religious beliefs under the Free …

The First Amendment's Petition Clause As An Alternative Basis For Challenging Voter Initiatives That Burden The Enactment Of Anti-Discrimination Protection For Gays, Lesbians, And Bisexuals, Kevin Francis O'Neill

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of my remarks today is to suggest that the First Amendment-specifically, the Petition Clause of the First Amendment provides an alternative basis for vindicating gay, lesbian, and bisexual rights in certain cases. At least in the context of voter initiatives that seek to abolish anti-discrimination protection for sexual orientation, the Petition Clause is a promising alternative to equal protection and substantive due process. My objective here was merely to plant a seed: to identify an alternative basis for vindicating the rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals-especially when combatting homophobic voter initiatives like those in Romer and Cincinnati. It's …

The Religious Liberty Protection Act: The Validity Of Using Congress' Commerce And Spending Powers To Protect Religion, Jennifer Dorton

Cleveland State Law Review

Although the Religious Liberty Protection Act appears, on its face, to be simple, there are many constitutional issues which call into question the validity of the proposed bill. This note will focus on the constitutional problems of using Congress' commerce and spending powers to protect religion. It will examine the problem of attaching religious conditions to the States' receipt of federal funds, and the potential problem that may result from using the spending power to protect religious exercise. The note then turns to the commerce clause justification for the RLPA. It will point out the major flaw in using the …

The Politics Of Religion: Reasonable Accomodations And The Establishment Clause An Analysis Of The Workplace Religious Freedom Act, Gregory J. Gawlik

Cleveland State Law Review

The Workplace Religious Freedom Act is the focus of this note. The Workplace Religious Freedom Act represents another Congressional attempt to fortify the "reasonable accommodations" and "undue hardship" standards of Title VII with regard to religious discrimination in the workplace; the WRFA does go in the face of Supreme Court decisions which have narrowed the scope of those standards, eased burdens on employers, and valiantly guarded the citadel of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. Specifically, this note will analyze the potential constitutional infirmity of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act in light of Establishment Clause jurisprudence and the Court's rather murky …

The Indians' Chief Problem: Chief Wahoo As State Sponsored Discrimination And A Disparaging Mark, Jack Achiezer Guggenheim

Cleveland State Law Review

This article traces the history of the Cleveland Indians and Chief Wahoo. It then suggests and assesses two methods by which the Chief Wahoo emblem may be legally challenged. The first method is to assert that Chief Wahoo, as used in Jacob's Field, is state sponsored discrimination. As such it could be challenged as a violation of equal protection or as racist speech. Alternatively, in addition to proving that the teams' actions should be deemed state actions, a new theory asserting that discriminatory state speech is a violation of the First Amendment could be advanced. Another method by which the …

Lisa Herdahl And Religious Liberty , Nadine Strossen

Cleveland State Law Review

Introduction of the ACLU’s Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award honoree, detailing her specific struggle and outlining the larger national picture her case reflected.

Counter-Demonstration As Protected Speech: Finding The Right To Confrontation In Existing First Amendment Law, Kevin F. O'Neill, R. Vasvari

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Accordingly, this Article is aimed at disentangling lines of precedent that are all too frequently entwined by urging an analysis of public protest cases that distinguishes among the four regulatory players. Thus, this Article devotes separate sections to the regulatory roles of legislators,16 administrators,17 judges,18 and police,19 with an introductory section on the doctrinal bedrock in this field: the public forum doctrine.20

Book Review, Stephen W. Gard

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The author reviews Justice Hugo Black and the First Amendment, edited by Everette E. Dennis, Donald M. Gillmor and David L. Grey.

The Impact Of Pacifica Foundation On Two Traditions Of Freedom Of Expression, Stephen W. Gard, Jeffrey Endress

Cleveland State Law Review

The United States Supreme Court, in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, had a magnificent opportunity to either begin the process of defining first amendment limitations on the scope of the authority of the FCC to regulate the content of broadcast expression, explicate a rational ground for the differential status of broadcasting, or perhaps both. The purpose of this article is not to debate the wisdom of the use of sensitive language on the electronic media or elsewhere. Nor is it our purpose to debate the substantive question of whether the Court reached the proper result in Pacifica, although we will necessarily …

The Impact Of Pacifica Foundation On Two Traditions Of Freedom Of Expression, Stephen W. Gard, Jeffrey Endress

Cleveland State Law Review

The United States Supreme Court, in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, had a magnificent opportunity to either begin the process of defining first amendment limitations on the scope of the authority of the FCC to regulate the content of broadcast expression, explicate a rational ground for the differential status of broadcasting, or perhaps both. The purpose of this article is not to debate the wisdom of the use of sensitive language on the electronic media or elsewhere. Nor is it our purpose to debate the substantive question of whether the Court reached the proper result in Pacifica, although we will necessarily …

Obscenity And The Right To Be Let Alone: The Balancing Of Constitutional Rights, Stephen W. Gard

Stephen W. Gard

While on the one hand a conceptual framework for obscenity cases is essential, it is equally true that the Supreme Court has in the past accepted theories proposed by commentators without making significant progress in extricating itself from the quagmire. In light of this situation, the purpose of this Note is not to urge the Court to accept any new theory for dealing with obscenity, but, rather, to suggest a conceptual framework present in the results of its prior decisions and to urge its explicit acceptance by the Court. No attempt will be made to be faithful to all the …

Political Rights Of Government Employees, Donald H. Buckley

Cleveland State Law Review

There are nearly three million federal employees, of whom 50.8 percent are professional, technical or administrative personnel. These federal employees and those individuals employed by a state or local agency whose principal employment is in connection with an activity which is financed in whole or in part by loans or grants made by the United States or a federal agency are subject to the United States Civil Service Commission rules regulating political activity. Under Civil Service rules, individuals may be removed from their employment for doing what every other American may consider a constitutionally protected right; namely, participating actively in …