Constitutional Law Commons^™

Evaluating Candidacy Restrictions: The Implications Of New York's Modified Approach, Brian Hodgkinson

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Curtailing The First Amendment Protection To Discovery, Silvia Durri

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement And The Constitution: Protestors Preoccupied With The First Amendment, Christine Verbitsky

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Don't Feed The Deer: Misapplications Of Statutory Vagueness And The First Amendment Overbreadth Doctrine, Brian Hodgkinson

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Lawless Rule Of The Norm In The Government Religious Speech Cases, Kyle Langvardt

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Associations And The Constitution: Four Questions About Four Freedoms, Nelson Tebbe

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

When should a constitutional democracy allow private associations to discriminate? That question has become prominent once again, not only in the United States but abroad as well. John Inazu provides a provocative answer in his impressive Article, The Four Freedoms and the Future of Religious Liberty. According to his proposal, “strong pluralism,” associations should have a constitutional right to limit membership on any ground, including race. Strong pluralism articulates only three limits: It does not apply to the government, to commercial entities, or to monopolistic groups. In this Response, I raise four questions about Four Freedoms. First, I ask why …

Seeking Guidance? New Legal Challenges To 'Legislative Prayer', Marc O. Degirolami

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

It has long been the tradition of American citizens to pray for divine blessing and guidance in their civic business. This tradition, which predates the founding of the American Republic, finds expression at all levels of government, federal, state, and local. It was embraced by the First Continental Congress, the same Congress that both employed a paid chaplain and later drafted the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; it was maintained during the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment; and it persists in various guises to this day.

First Amendment Enclave: Is The Public University Curriculum Immune From The Sweep Of The Compelled Speech Doctrine?, Joseph J. Martins

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seventy years ago, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the United States Supreme Court eloquently held that the state could not compel public schoolchildren to salute the flag while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The decision has been heralded as one of the Court’s most significant free speech cases because it acknowledged expansive protection for freedom of conscience. But recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that Barnette’s protection does not extend to college students who challenge their public institution’s curriculum because university enrollment is “voluntary.” The impact of this …

Online Terms Of Service: A Shield For First Amendment Scrutiny Of Government Action, Jacquelyn E. Fradette

Notre Dame Law Review

Part I of this Note will canvas popular opinions and perceptions about First Amendment rights on the Internet using examples of public outcry over recent instances of speech limitation. It will also discuss the state action doctrine generally and how the presence of this doctrine most likely renders certain popular public constitutional intuitions about the First Amendment erroneous.

Part II will provide an overview of how courts have taken an expansive and protective view of private ordering between online parties. It will discuss how courts have developed a robust freedom to contract jurisprudence in the Internet context. Because courts essentially …

All For One, And One For All-Comers! University Nondiscrimination Policies In Light Of Hosanna-Tabor And The Ministerial Exception, Zach Tafoya

Pepperdine Law Review

In light of the more recent Hosanna-Tabor decision, this Comment seeks to answer these questions by extending the reasoning behind the ministerial exception to the university context in order to build a foundation upon which a future exception can be built to ensure that religious student groups are sufficiently free to choose their own leaders. Part II sets forth a brief history of the ministerial exception and its application in the circuit courts. Part III addresses two recent Supreme Court cases, Martinez and Hosanna-Tabor, and their practical effect on religious liberty, as well as the public’s perception of both cases. …

Once We Were Slaves, Now We Are Free: Legal, Administrative, And Social Issues Raised By Passover Celebrations In Prison, Aviva Orenstein

Pepperdine Law Review

“Once we were slaves, now we are free” is a central line from the Jewish Passover Seder, a ritual meal in which participants retell the story of liberation from Pharaoh’s oppression. In prison, many Jewish inmates request access to a Seder and to kosher-for-Passover food for the eight-day holiday. Prisoners’ requests to celebrate Passover provide a rich example for exploring the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act (RLUIPA), and raise a host of tough questions regarding cost, safety, equal treatment of prisoners, and establishment of religion. Because kosher-for-Passover meals are more expensive and generally of higher quality than regular …

The Post-Tsa Airport: A Constitution Free Zone?, Daniel S. Harawa

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Secret Arbitration Or Civil Litigation?: An Analysis Of The Delaware Arbitration Program, Jores Kharatian

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Delaware Arbitration Experiment: Not Just A “Secret Court”, Jessica Tyndall

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

Delaware's Closed Door Arbitration: What The Future Holds For Large Business Disputes And How It Will Affect M&A Deals, Myron T. Steele, Thomas J. Stipanowich, Robert Anderson, James R. Griffin, Katherine Blair, Monica Shilling

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

In Quest Of The Arbitration Trifecta, Or Closed Door Litigation?: The Delaware Arbitration Program , Thomas J. Stipanowich

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The Delaware Arbitration Program established a procedure by which businesses can agree to have their disputes heard in an arbitration proceeding before a sitting judge of the state’s highly regarded Chancery Court. The Program arguably offers a veritable trifecta of procedural advantages for commercial parties, including expert adjudication, efficient case management and short cycle time and, above all, a proceeding cloaked in secrecy. It also may enhance the reputation of Delaware as the forum of choice for businesses. But the Program’s ambitious intermingling of public and private forums brings into play the longstanding tug-of-war between the traditional view of court …

Facebook Is Not Your Friend: Protecting A Private Employee's Expectation Of Privacy In Social Networking Content In The Twenty-First Century Workplace, Cara Magatelli

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Comment explores the implications SNS postings have on private employers concerning the off-duty, non-work related conduct of their employees. This argument recognizes that an employee is entitled to engage in whatever legal off-duty conduct he chooses, so long as the behavior does not damage his employer's legitimate business interests. An employer should not be able to use information gleaned from an employee's SNS postings, unrelated to an employer's business interests, to punish an employee for her choices outside the work place. Disciplining or terminating an employee for his off-duty lifestyle choices permits the morals and standards of the employer …

Lethal Injection And The Right Of Access: The Intersection Of The Eighth And First Amendments, Timothy F. Brown

Faculty Publications, School of Management

The Spring and Summer of 2014 have witnessed renewed debate on the constitutionality of the death penalty after a series of high profile legal battles concerning access to lethal injection protocols and subsequent questionable executions. Due to shortages in the drugs traditionally used for the lethal injection, States have changed their lethal injection protocols to shield information from both the prisoners and the public. Citing public safety concerns, the States refuse to release information concerning the procurement of the drugs to the public. Such obstruction hinders the public’s ability to determine the cruelty of the punishment imposed and creates the …

When Speech Isn't Free: Legal Barriers And Consequences Of Reporting Sexual Violence, Kevin M. Fleming

Departmental Honors Projects

Incidents of sexual violence continue to be a serious problem for society. Likewise, acts of sexual violence impose severe consequences for survivors. The consequences initially begin at the onset of the survivor’s journey to psychological recovery following the traumatic sexual assault. The consequences take on a unique set of characteristics when the survivor attempts to use the justice system to confront the perpetrator who committed the offense. These characteristics can transform an adversarial process into an isolated battle for the survivor. In the worst cases, the justice system empowers individuals who wish to silence survivors with free speech restrictions instead …

Has Society Become Tolerant Of Further Infringement On First Amendment Rights?, Nicholas Primrose

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Priest-Penitent Privilege Revisited: A Reply To The Statutes Of Abrogation, Jude O. Ezeanokwasa

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

There is no gainsaying the fact that the near-pandemic social ill of child sex abuse calls for urgent attention given the many dire effects of the crime. Harm to children is not suffered by them alone. The immediate family, parents, and friends also suffer with them. Moreover, society is burdened by the existence of child sex abuse as it is called on to restore the physical and mental health of these often traumatized younger members. To nip this problem in the bud, pursuing the philosophy of early detection, all fifty states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, …

A Primer On Hobby Lobby: For-Profit Corporate Entities' Challenge To The Hhs Mandate, Free Exercise Rights, Rfra's Scope, And The Nondelegation Doctrine, Terri R. Day, Leticia M. Diaz, Danielle Weatherby

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Commercial Religious Exercise: Translating Commercial Speech Doctrine To The Free Exercise Clause, Danieli Evans

Articles

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and implementing regulations require for-profit businesses with more than fifty employees to include contraceptive products in their health care coverage for employees. Throughout the country, privately held corporations and their owners challenged this requirement on the grounds that it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which states that the government shall not “substantially burden” a religious practice unless the regulation is “the least restrictive means” of serving a “compelling governmental interest.” The employers argued that requiring them to include contraceptives in employees’ health coverage substantially burdened their religious opposition to using certain …

The ‘Competition Of The Market’: “Enter The Elephant!” [A Restatement Of A Most Perplexing First Amendment Conundrum], William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

This short essay revisits the enduring problem of “government propaganda” in the domestic marketplace of “competing ideas.” Drawing his argument from the suggestions and from strongly worded dicta by several famous twentieth century justices (most notably Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Louis Brandeis, Robert Jackson and Hugo Black), Van Alstyne suggests that the First Amendment invests every ordinary citizen with suitable standing (akin to that of a corporate shareholder) to call upon any judge bound by oath of office, as set forth in Article VI, and whose aid is thus appropriately invoked, to enjoin the government from acting as an ideological …

Rehabilitating Concession Theory, Stefan Padfield

Oklahoma Law Review

In Citizens United v. FEC, a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court ruled that “the Government cannot restrict political speech based on the speaker's corporate identity.” The decision remains controversial, with many arguing that the Court effectively overturned more than 100 years of precedent. I have previously argued that this decision turned on competing conceptions of the corporation, with the majority adopting a contractarian view while the dissent advanced a state concession view. However, the majority opinion was silent on the issue of corporate theory, and the dissent went so far as to expressly disavow any role for corporate …

Picking Up Where Katcoff Left Off: Developing A Framework For A Constitutional Military Chaplaincy, Malcolm H. Wilkerson

Oklahoma Law Review

Under existing precedent, portions of the military chaplaincy program are unconstitutional. Although presenting at least the appearance of the “establishment” of religion, the military chaplaincy program has never been successfully challenged on constitutional grounds—despite its history of more than two centuries. The only court that has directly confronted the issue upheld the military chaplaincy based on what appears to be a counter-intuitive application of the Free Exercise Clause. Namely, the military chaplaincy program ensures the free exercise rights of service members who, because of their military service, would otherwise be deprived of access to religious services. And indeed, when a …

The First Thing We Do, Jorge R. Roig

Scholarly Works

There is currently a concerted effort to dumb down America. In the midst of this, the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar recently agreed to propose that tenure for law professors be eliminated as a requirement for accreditation of law schools. This article analyzes the arguments for and against tenure in legal academia, and concludes that the main proposed justifications for eliminating tenure are highly questionable, at best. A lawyer is more than a legal technocrat. Lawyers are policy makers and public defenders. They are prosecutors and activists. And the development …

Book Review, Justin R. Huckaby

Journal Articles

In The Tragedy of Religious Freedom, Marc 0. DeGirolami explains the delicate nuances of the legal theory of religious liberty and the risks that arise from its application in the sensitive area of the First Amendment's religion clauses. There are several different theoretical approaches to cases involving the religion clauses. DeGirolami endorses the approach he describes as the method of tragedy and history. This method approaches the pluralistic nature of religion with the understanding that there are many different values at play in cases involving religion and that sacrifices will be made in all cases. Courts should also consider the …

Meta Rights, Charlotte Garden

Fordham Law Review

Are individuals entitled to notice of their constitutional rights or assistance in exercising those rights? In most contexts, the answer is no. Yet, there are some important exceptions, in which the U.S. Supreme Court has held that special circumstances call for notice and procedural protections designed to facilitate rights invocations. This Article refers to these entitlements as “meta rights”—rights that protect rights. The most famous of these is the Miranda warning, which notifies suspects of their Fifth Amendment rights to silence and an attorney. There are others as well—among them, the First Amendment right of individuals represented by public sector …

Government Endorsement: A Reply To Nelson Tebbe's Government Nonendorsement, Abner S. Greene

Faculty Scholarship

In this response to Nelson Tebbe’s Government Nonendorsement, Abner Greene continues to develop his “thick perfectionist” view of government speech, arguing that the state may use its speech powers to advance various views of the good, from left, center,