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Distinction Without A Difference: A Reappraisal Of The Doctrine Of Prior Restraint, Marin Roger Scordato

Scholarly Articles

For nearly 60 years, the doctrine of prior restraint has held a central position in first amendment jurisprudence. A law that acts as a prior restraint on speech comes under such searching judicial scrutiny that it almost always is invalidated. Professor Marin Scordato makes a frontal attack on the existing prior restraint doctrine in this Article. ie first maintains that the traditional definition of prior restraint defies the common-sense meaning of the term. Then he examines the policy justifications for identifying prior restraints by their asserted tendency to produce constitutionally undesirable results compared with their definitional opposites, subsequent sanctions. He …