Law Commons^™

Press Freedom's History And Tradition, Ronnell Andersen Jones, Sonja R. West

Scholarly Works

Backward-looking, history-and-tradition analysis is gaining greater prominence at the U.S. Supreme Court. While the Court has not yet explicitly applied its history-and-tradition framework to press freedom questions, the methodology’s dominance across other areas, coupled with some urgent concerns about the scope of newsgatherer protections and some Justices’ interest in reconsidering long-established precedent, suggest that this application could be imminent. In anticipation of that moment, we set out to empirically map the Court’s engagement with the history and tradition of press freedom in its rhetoric over time. Our goals were to explore, both quantitatively and qualitatively, how the Court’s Justices have …

The Unconstitutional Attempt To Criminalize Naming Ice Agents, Noah C. Chauvin

Faculty Articles

Some members of Congress propose to make it a crime to publish the name of a federal official with the intent of obstructing that official’s law or immigration enforcement duties. This Essay considers whether the lawmakers’ bill, the Protecting Law Enforcement from Doxxing Act, is consistent with the First Amendment. It is not.

No Justice Without Transparency: The Case For A Broad Presumption Of Public Access To Court Documents, Taylor Quimby

FIU Law Review

This Comment argues that a broad presumption of public access to court  documents is essential to preserving the legitimacy and constitutional values  of the American legal system. Although the principle of public access is  rooted in common law and constitutional tradition, individual states differ in  how they approach transparency in the context of court documents. These  jurisdictional inconsistencies continue to gain significance, as the digital age  has completely transformed the way people consume information. The  increasing digitization of court records has heightened the need for consistent  and constitutionally grounded standards that preserve transparency while  adequately protecting legitimate privacy interests. Florida’s …

Evolving Legal Issues In Higher Education: Introduction To The Higher Education And The Law Symposium, Patricia E. Salkin

Touro Law Review

The Touro Law Review could not have selected a better time to highlight many of the evolving legal issues in higher education. It can be both an exciting time to practice law in this space and one that challenges the creative problem-solving skills of lawyers and their clients. This issue of the Law Review highlights a number of key developments and trends.

Status, Conduct, Belief, And Message: The Wedding Vendor Cases, Mark L. Movsesian

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Catholic Institutions And The Religion Clauses: Faith In A Liberal Democracy, Angela C. Carmella

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can First Amendment "History And Tradition" Protect Both Sides In Polarized America?, Thomas C. Berg

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Simple Accommodation": A Solution For Conflicts Between Religious Claims And Secular Law?, Laura S. Underkuffler

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Ten Commandments In Louisiana Public Schools: A Study In The Survival Of Establishment Norms, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Liberty And The Constitution, Steven J. Heyman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Symposium — In Search Of Common Ground: Religion And Secularism In A Liberal Democratic Society, Kathleen A. Brady, Steven J. Heyman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

History, Tradition, And Finding Common Ground: The Establishment Clause And Religious Expression By The State, Kathleen A. Brady

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jurisdictional Diversity, Tradition, And The Religion Clauses, Steven D. Smith

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Attempting To Protect The Liberty And Equality Of Minority Faiths And Nonreligious Individuals When The Surpreme Court Will Not Do So, Alan Brownstein

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court's Gay Rights-Religious Liberty Contortions, Andrew Koppelman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brief Of The Notre Dame Education Law Project, Islam And Religious Freedom Action Team, Jewish Coalition For Religious Liberty, And Manhattan Institute As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioners, John A. Meiser, Meredith Holland Kessler, Domenic Canonico

Court Briefs

No. 25-581
St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Lisa Roy

On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

From the Summary of Argument

Three times in the last eight years, this Court has struck down efforts to exclude religious institutions from otherwise available funding programs. Each time, opponents of the Court’s decisions have sought to riddle them with holes, requiring the Court to intervene to prevent its rulings—and the First Amendment’s command against religious discrimination—from being so easily evaded. Regrettably, this Court must step in again, as some states, like Colorado, still …

From Sidewalks, Streets, And Parks To Social Media: How Should Courts Apply The Public Forum Doctrine In The Digital Age?, Laurel Wanger

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note examines the circuit split over whether government officials’ social media pages constitute public forums and analyzes how the Supreme Court settled the doctrinal uncertainty in Lindke v. Freed. Part I presents context for this issue by explaining the origins of the public forum doctrine, the ways in which government officials use social media as a means of interacting with their constituents, and the circuit split regarding the proper test to be used when deciding these issues. Part II provides an overview of the majority test used by the Second, Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, and …

New Yorkers Training, Mobilizing To Protect Immigrants As Federal Crackdown Intensifies, Cristina Ledra, Andrew Serulneck

Capstones

As the Trump administration escalates deportation efforts nationwide, New York City is bracing for increased enforcement, with advocates warning that fear of deportation raids is already reshaping daily life for immigrant communities. New York protesters have not yet faced the most severe federal charges following high-profile confrontations, as protesters have in other states around the country. And the federal cases are largely falling apart and not resulting in trials or convictions. Despite the legal threat, some advocates see the moment as galvanizing.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQrUcmMi4XgxnkjMV-h58Cp3RTxfmIEt95H79uo7CDFlYD5lo59QylxoWozHJhBhlxHCzA98XHnwX7-/pub

Disclosures, Disclaimers, And Disinformation Advertising, Areeb Asif

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Every regular internet user in the United States has been exposed to fake news at some point. Most of them, if not all, would agree that this problem needs a solution. Nevertheless, even as fake news has taken on unforeseen prominence in recent years, very little concrete action has been taken to curb its impact on American society. Some scholars have chalked this up to the Supreme Court’s expansive conception of the First Amendment, which makes it incredibly challenging to regulate political speech. Others posit that the problem is Section 230, which allows platforms to profit from fake news without …

From The Bench To The Feed: Conflict Between Public Official Accounts And The First Amendment, Betty Yu

Washington Law Review

Imagine one day waking up, opening Facebook, and discovering that the official White House account blocked you because you left a comment expressing a viewpoint. In this case, your First Amendment right to free speech would most likely be violated. However, what happens if your local official blocks you or deletes your comments? Are your First Amendment rights violated? Well, it depends.

Historically, public officials have used public forums such as town halls to meet with citizens and answer questions. However, as social media platforms like X and Facebook have become increasingly crucial tools for communication, the distinction between personal …

Brief Of Amicus Curiae Lindsay And Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic In Support Of Plaintiff-Appellant, John A. Meiser, Meredith Holland Kessler

Court Briefs

No. 25-5641
Roderick E. Theis, II v. InterMountain Education Service District Board of Directors

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon
No. 2:25-cv-00865-HL

From the Introduction

The First Amendment promises religious believers, of all faiths, the right “to participate on equal terms” in public life. Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 852–53 (1995) (Thomas, J., concurring). The Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected the idea that individuals sacrifice those rights by accepting government employment. See, e.g., Pickering v. Bd. of Educ. of Twp. High Sch. Dist. 205, …

From Mill To Mussolini And On To Microsoft: Freedom Of Speech In A Neo-Corporatist Era, Maimon Schwarzschild

The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues

John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty—a fundamental text for political liberalism—not only defended the importance of freedom of expression and debate, but suggested that social pressure from private persons and institutions can be as much, or more, of a threat to freedom, including freedom of expression, as any legal sanction or act of government. Mill feared “a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression” which “leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul to itself”.

Recent decades in America have seen efforts to suppress free expression by colleges …

Should Private Universities Tie Themselves To The First Amendment?, Keith E. Whittington

The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues

Private colleges and universities are generally free to depart from First Amendment standards regarding their own regulation of speech on campus and among campus community members. They may adopt more restrictive speech regimes that would sharply separate them from their public university counterparts which are bound by First Amendment requirements. In the modern era, private universities have nonetheless generally chosen to voluntarily embrace something like First Amendment principles to guide their own internal governance. Some would prefer that they shed those commitments and adopt some alternative speech regime. In this Article, I argue that private universities generally should adopt free …

Dignity And Deepfakes, Michael Goodyear

Articles & Chapters

Today, we face a dangerous technosocial combination: AI-generated deepfakes and the Internet. Believable and accessible, these deepfakes have already spread sex, lies, and false advertisements across the Internet and targeted everyone from Taylor Swift to middle school students. Dissemination of deepfakes inflicts multifarious dignitary harms against their victims—especially women and LGBTQ+ persons—stripping them of control over their own identities, harming their reputations, and ostracizing them from society through shame.

Yet this is not the first time a new technology for capturing one’s likeness and a method for disseminating images threatened individuals’ dignity. In the late nineteenth century, the right of …

Unvaccinated By Doubt: How Covid-19 Governance Sparked A Measles Outbreak, Ellen Black

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines how the erosion of public trust in government and public health institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the resurgence of measles in the United States. It argues that pandemic-era governance—marked by inconsistent scientific messaging, politically charged public health mandates, and the federal government’s coordination with social media platforms to suppress dissenting viewpoints—generated widespread skepticism that continues to undermine vaccination uptake. Through a detailed analysis of lockdown policies, vaccine and mask mandates, and the subsequent revelations regarding governmental influence over online content moderation, the Article demonstrates how conflicting guidance and perceived censorship fostered long-lasting public doubt. …

The Defamation-To-Bankruptcy Pipeline In The United States And Around The World, Christopher D. Hampson

UF Law Faculty Publications

It has never been easier to ‘go viral’. With nothing more than a microphone, a smartphone, and some computer software, an influencer in today’s media landscape can reach millions. But that ease comes with risk: defamation lawsuits are on the rise, sending content creators to bankruptcy courts with judgments that far exceed everything they own. Last year, I analysed this trend in American law, which I call the ‘defamation-to-bankruptcy pipeline’, in Defamation, Bankruptcy & the First Amendment, published in the Journal of Free Speech Law.

Time’S Up: Limiting Employer Retaliation Over K-12 Teachers’ Speech In An Internet That Never Forgets, Megan Listenbee

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reimagining U.S. Tort Law For Deepfake Harms: Comparative Insights From China And Singapore, Huijuan Peng, Pey Woan Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This Article explores how U.S. tort law can respond more effectively to the distinct harms posed by deepfakes, including reputational injury, identity appropriation, and emotional distress. Traditional tort doctrines, such as defamation, the right of publicity, and intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), remain fragmented and ill-suited to the speed, scale, and anonymity of deepfake dissemination. Using a comparative functionalist approach, the Article analyzes how China and Singapore respond to deepfake harms through structurally divergent but functionally instructive frameworks. China’s model combines codified personality rights with intermediary obligations under a civil law regime, while Singapore adopts a hybrid approach that …

Tort Liability For Failure To Age Gate: A Promising Regulatory Response To Digital Public Health Hazards, Matthew B. Lawrence, Brett Frischmann, Avi Sholkoff

Faculty Publications

Tort liability for failure to “age gate” is a promising legal response to the public health hazards of AI, social media, sports gambling, and other digital spaces. Tort liability for failure to “age gate” hinges liability for harms to minors on an app’s failure to take reasonable steps to prevent minors from gaining access or otherwise to apply appropriate governance rules, such as privacy-protective default settings or ensuring genuine parental consent. While no one legal response is a panacea, tort liability for failure to age gate carries several distinctive advantages that make it a particularly promising option at this stage …

Louisiana's Ten Commandments Statute: With Litigation Updates From Arkansas And Texas, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

Legislators in conservative states are drawn to a belief that the Ten Commandments [“10/Cs”] underscore American’s moral, jurisprudential, and historical heritage. First the State of Louisiana, and thereafter Arkansas and Texas, enacted legislation requiring the posting of the 10/Cs in every public school and university classroom in the state. This quickly brought on legal challenges by students and their parents, along with a smattering of local clerics, together contending that these laws were unconstitutional, most prominently violations of the Establishment Clause. State attorney generals leaped to defend these statutes making the facial assertion that the 10/Cs are not so much …