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Public Corruption Concerns And Counter-Majoritarian Democracy Definition In Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission, Daaron Kimmel Dec 2011

Public Corruption Concerns And Counter-Majoritarian Democracy Definition In Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission, Daaron Kimmel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In determining the shape of the free speech rights and anti-corruption concerns that courts must balance in campaign finance cases, judges are influenced by their own underlying understandings of what an ideal democracy should look like. For judges to decide whether the government is appropriately regulating the political process, the rules that allow all citizens to interact with and shape their democracy, judges must first decide what that democracy ought to look like. This affords judges a great deal of discretion in campaign finance cases. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a particularly bold judicial attempt to reshape the …


Purpose And Effects: Viewpoint-Discriminatory Closure Of A Designated Public Forum, Kerry L. Monroe Jul 2011

Purpose And Effects: Viewpoint-Discriminatory Closure Of A Designated Public Forum, Kerry L. Monroe

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In early 2010, amidst a series of racially charged incidents on campus, the student government president at the University of California at San Diego revoked funding to all student media organizations in response to controversial speech on the student-run television station. It is well established that once the government has opened a forum, including a "metaphysical" forum constituted by government funding for private speech, it may not discriminate based on the viewpoints expressed within that forum. However, it has not been clearly established whether the government may close such a forum for a viewpoint-discriminatory purpose. This Note argues that courts …


Emphasizing Substance: Making The Case For A Shift In Political Speech Jurisprudence, Anastasia N. Niedrich Jul 2011

Emphasizing Substance: Making The Case For A Shift In Political Speech Jurisprudence, Anastasia N. Niedrich

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Political speech is vital to a functioning democracy and is highly protected. That much is hardly disputed. What courts, legal scholars, and those seeking to convey a political message do dispute is how political speech should be identified and protected, and who should decide what constitutes political speech. This Note looks at the history of political speech doctrine and critiques two intent-based approaches that have been proposed by First Amendment scholars to define political speech. This Note proposes a solution to many problems inherent in defining, identifying, and protecting political speech within intent-based frameworks, arguing that focusing on intent creates …


Myspace, Yourspace, But Not Theirspace: The Constitutionality Of Banning Sex Offenders From Social Networking Sites, Jasmine S. Wynton May 2011

Myspace, Yourspace, But Not Theirspace: The Constitutionality Of Banning Sex Offenders From Social Networking Sites, Jasmine S. Wynton

Duke Law Journal

In recent years there has been intense public pressure to enact increasingly restrictive and intrusive sex offender laws. The regulation of sex offenders has now moved online, where a growing amount of protected expression and activity occurs. The latest trend in sex offender policy has been the passage of state laws prohibiting sex offenders from visiting social networking sites, such as Myspace or Facebook. The use of these websites implicates the First Amendment right of expressive association. Broad social-networking-site bans threaten the First Amendment expressive association rights of sex offenders, who do not lose all of their constitutional rights by …


Transmitting, Editing, And Communicating: Determining What “The Freedom Of Speech” Encompasses, Stuart Minor Benjamin May 2011

Transmitting, Editing, And Communicating: Determining What “The Freedom Of Speech” Encompasses, Stuart Minor Benjamin

Duke Law Journal

How much can one say with confidence about what constitutes "the freedom of speech" that Congress shall not abridge? In this Article, I address that question in the context of the transmission of speech specifically, the regulation of Internet access known as net neutrality. This question has implications both for the future of economic regulation, as more and more activity involves the transmission of bits, and for First Amendment interpretation. As for the latter, the question is what a lawyer or judge can conclude without having to choose among competing conceptions of speech. How far can a basic legal toolkit …


The Canadian Criminal Jury, Regina Schuller, Neil Vidmar Apr 2011

The Canadian Criminal Jury, Regina Schuller, Neil Vidmar

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Canadian criminal jury system has some unique characteristics. In contrast to American law, that gives precedent to free speech over fair trial, and English law, that favors fair trial over free speech, Canadian law occupies a middle ground balancing these competing values. Jury selection procedure in most trials is similar to that of England: jurors are assumed to be "impartial between the Queen and the accused" and are selected without voir dire. However, in cases involving exceptional pretrial publicity or involving accused persons from racial or ethnic minority groups, jurors are vetted by a "challenge for cause" process in …


Attorney Advice And The First Amendment, Renee Newman Knake Mar 2011

Attorney Advice And The First Amendment, Renee Newman Knake

Washington and Lee Law Review

An attorney’s advice for navigating and, when necessary, challenging the law is essential to American democracy. Yet the constitutional protection afforded to this category of speech is not clear; indeed, some question whether it should be protected at all. While legal ethics scholars have addressed attorney speech in other circumstances, none has focused exclusively on the First Amendment protection for attorney advice, particularly in light of the Supreme Court’s recent attention to the matter. Nor have constitutional law scholars given this issue the attention it deserves, though they acknowledge that it presents an important and unresolved question within First Amendment …


“There Is Something Unique … About The Government Funding Of The Arts For First Amendment Purposes”: An Institutional Approach To Granting Government Entities Free Speech Rights, Leslie Cooper Mahaffey Feb 2011

“There Is Something Unique … About The Government Funding Of The Arts For First Amendment Purposes”: An Institutional Approach To Granting Government Entities Free Speech Rights, Leslie Cooper Mahaffey

Duke Law Journal

The common understanding of the First Amendment is that its purpose is primarily libertarian, serving to protect private citizens' expression from government censorship. In the modern era, however, the government's pervasive presence-especially in the role of funder of private activity-has blurred the lines between governmental and private speech. Further, the relatively new, increasingly influential government speech doctrine-which dictates that the government will not be subjected to First Amendment scrutiny when it is engaging in communication-has been the Supreme Court's guidepost of late when the Court has been confronted with a case involving expression with both private and public elements. The …


Justice Samuel A. Alito's Lonely War Against Abhorrent, Low-Value, Clay Calvert Jan 2011

Justice Samuel A. Alito's Lonely War Against Abhorrent, Low-Value, Clay Calvert

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Marginality Of Citizens United, Michael C. Dorf Jan 2011

The Marginality Of Citizens United, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.


Tango Or More - From California's Lesson 9 To The Constitutionality Of A Gay-Friendly Curriculum In Public Elementary Schools, Amy Lai Jan 2011

Tango Or More - From California's Lesson 9 To The Constitutionality Of A Gay-Friendly Curriculum In Public Elementary Schools, Amy Lai

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

In August 2009, a group of parents in California filed a lawsuit, Balde v. Alameda Unified School District, in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda. They alleged that the Alameda Unified School District refused them the right to excuse their children from a new curriculum, Lesson 9, that would teach public elementary school children about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) families. The proposed curriculum included short sessions about GLBT people, incorporated into more general lessons about family and health, once a year from kindergarten through fifth grade. Kindergarteners would learn the harms of teasing, while fifth graders …


First Amendment Investigations And The Inescapable Pragmatism Of The Common Law Of Free Speech, Lawrence Rosenthal Jan 2011

First Amendment Investigations And The Inescapable Pragmatism Of The Common Law Of Free Speech, Lawrence Rosenthal

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.


How To Create International Law: The Case Of Internet Freedom In China, Katherine Tsai Jan 2011

How To Create International Law: The Case Of Internet Freedom In China, Katherine Tsai

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.


Nearly Toothless: Why The Speech Act Is Mostly Bark, With Little Bite, Elizabeth J. Elias Jan 2011

Nearly Toothless: Why The Speech Act Is Mostly Bark, With Little Bite, Elizabeth J. Elias

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.


Invested In Politics: Gun Jumping, Corporate Political Speech, And Citizens United, Alexander F.L. Sand Jan 2011

Invested In Politics: Gun Jumping, Corporate Political Speech, And Citizens United, Alexander F.L. Sand

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.


The End Of Indecency - The Second Circuit Invalidates The Fcc's Indecency Policy In Fox Televisions Stations, Inc. V. Fcc, John V. O'Grady Jan 2011

The End Of Indecency - The Second Circuit Invalidates The Fcc's Indecency Policy In Fox Televisions Stations, Inc. V. Fcc, John V. O'Grady

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Menu-Labeling Laws: A Move From Local To National Regulation, Christine Cusick Jan 2011

Menu-Labeling Laws: A Move From Local To National Regulation, Christine Cusick

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.


A Fundamental Right To Read: Reader Privacy Protections In The U.S. Constitution, Eric Robertson Jan 2011

A Fundamental Right To Read: Reader Privacy Protections In The U.S. Constitution, Eric Robertson

University of Colorado Law Review

Bookstore customers and library patrons typically expect their book purchases and book-borrowing habits to remain private, but what is the legal basis for this expectation and is it justified? This Comment examines court decisions, readers' privacy scholarship, and First Amendment jurisprudence in search of a consistent answer. Although courts and scholars have taken different approaches in identifying a right to readers' privacy and what activity it encompasses, this Comment concludes that a right to reader privacy is fundamental under the First Amendment. In the end, this Comment seeks to provide a simplified solution to the complex constitutional issues that can …