Law Commons^™

Prophetic Speech, Jeremy G. Mallory

Jeremy G Mallory

Snyder v. Phelps presented the Supreme Court with a shocking set of facts leading to a result that surprised some and confused many. On a more unsettling note, it showed that existing First Amendment doctrine has difficulty addressing prophetic speakers as they are. Prophetic rhetoric is a unique speech category that warrants nuanced consideration due to its sui generis nature. Seven characteristics of prophetic speech undermine assumptions usually taken to hold true in the Court’s free speech jurisprudence. The law as it currently exists can only address prophetic speech as some variant of a known problem, but it is not …

Elections Across The Pond: Comparing Campaign Finance Regimes In The United States And The United Kingdom, Kathleen Hunker

Kathleen Hunker

The article examines campaign finance regulations in two distinct political systems, the United States and the United Kingdom, and fleshes out how ‘constitutionalism’ — defined as the commitment to institutional arrangements that limit government authority — affects public efforts to curtail money in elections. Specifically, it looks at how the constitutional arrangements of the United States and the United Kingdom either facilitate or frustrate the ability of public bodies to enact prevailing public opinions on whether the nation’s underlying principles favor unrestrained political liberty or a level of political equality beyond the simple contours of one-man-one-vote. Moreover, the article compares …

Speech, Authorship, And Inventorship: A New Approach To Corporate Personhood, Sean M. O'Connor

Sean M. O'Connor

Recent developments relating to corporate speech, authorship, and inventorship suggest a collision of three policy principles: the right of associations to speak with a collective voice; the right of individuals to own or receive credit for the products of their intellect; and the need of innovation firms to control the intellectual output of individuals hired to create. In Citizens United, the Supreme Court upheld a right to corporate political speech as a form of collective voice. But in Stanford v. Roche, the Court affirmed the rule that patentable inventions vest ab initio with their natural person inventors. Meanwhile, in copyright …

Decoding First Amendment Coverage Of Computer Source Code In The Age Of Youtube, Facebook And The Arab Spring, Jorge R. Roig

Jorge R Roig