First Amendment Commons^™

Democratic Credentials, Donald J. Herzog Jan 1994

Starting From Scratch: The First Amendment Reporter-Source Privilege And The Doctrine Of Incidental Restrictions, Marcus A. Asner May 1993

Strangers On A Train, Peirre N. Leval May 1993

Girls Lean Back Everywhere: The Law Of Obscenity And The Assault On Genius, Anne E. Gilson May 1993

Free Speech For Me—But Not For Thee: How The American Left And Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other, Bradley L. Smith May 1993

Reporting The Truth And Setting The Record Straight: An Analysis Of U.S. And Japanese Libel Laws, Ellen M. Smith Jan 1993

The Integration Of Religious Liberty, John Witte Jr. May 1992

Imagining A Free Press, Geoffrey R. Stone May 1992

Transforming Free Speech: The Ambiguous Legacy Of Civil Libertarianism, Gregory P. Magarian May 1992

The Meaning Of Dissent, Lee C. Bollinger May 1991

Structural Free Exercise, Mary Ann Glendon, Raul F. Yanes Jan 1991

Comment On Preliminary Report On Freedom Of Expression And Campus Harassment Codes, Terrance Sandalow Jan 1991

Making Sense Of Billboard Law: Justifying Prohibitions And Exemptions, R. Douglass Bond Aug 1990

Michigan's Teacher Certification Requirement As Applied To Religiously Motivated Home Schools, Donald D. Dorman Jun 1990

The New Politics Of Pornography, René L. Todd May 1990

Invasion Of Privacy: The Cross Creek Trial Of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Laura J. Hines May 1990

A Prior Restraint By Any Other Name: The Judicial Response To Media Challenges Of Gag Orders Directed At Trial Participants, René L. Todd Apr 1990

A Prior Restraint By Any Other Name: The Judicial Response To Media Challenges Of Gag Orders Directed At Trial Participants, René L. Todd

Michigan Law Review

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Gag orders directed at trial participants do not directly intrude into the media's editorial process, but instead result in a reduction of the total communication available regarding trial proceedings. In this way, participant-directed gag orders are effective, albeit indirect, restraints upon the media. This Note examines the dynamics of these participant-directed restrictions and their consequent effect upon the media. Part I examines participant-directed gag orders in relation to traditional prior restraint doctrine. After discussing the history of prior restraint doctrine and the present standard of prior restraint analysis, Part I relates efforts by courts to apply. prior restraint doctrine to …

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The Lessons Of Miller And Hudnut: On Proposing A Pornography Ordinance That Passes Constitutional Muster, Martin Karo, Marcia Mcbrian Oct 1989

The Lessons Of Miller And Hudnut: On Proposing A Pornography Ordinance That Passes Constitutional Muster, Martin Karo, Marcia Mcbrian

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

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This Note first reviews the evolution of obscenity law, concentrating on the modern obscenity test formulated in Miller v. California, including its requirement that any obscenity prosecution must be based on a state statute, not merely on the common law. It then examines the elements of the Miller test, arguing that legislatures may determine statewide "community standards" of patently offensive depictions of sexual conduct and discusses the permissibility of legislative expansion of pornography regulation beyond the present boundaries. Part II examines the federal courts' analysis of the civil rights-based antipornography ordinance passed in Indianapolis. Part III suggests standards for …

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Public Response To Racist Speech: Considering The Victim's Story, Mari J. Matsuda Aug 1989

Public Response To Racist Speech: Considering The Victim's Story, Mari J. Matsuda

Michigan Law Review

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The threat of hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazi skinheads goes beyond their repeated acts of illegal violence. Their presence and the active dissemination of racist propaganda means that citizens are denied personal security and liberty as they go about their daily lives. Professor Richard Delgado recognized the harm of racist speech in his breakthrough article, Words That Wound, in which he suggested a tort remedy for injury from racist words. This Article takes inspiration from Professor Delgado's position, and makes the further suggestion that formal criminal and administrative sanction - public as opposed to private …

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American Broadcasting And The First Amendment, René L. Todd May 1989

American Broadcasting And The First Amendment, René L. Todd

Michigan Law Review

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A Review of American Broadcasting and the First Amendment by Lucas A. Powe, Jr.

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Harry Kalven, The Proust Of The First Amendment, Lee Bollinger May 1989

Harry Kalven, The Proust Of The First Amendment, Lee Bollinger

Michigan Law Review

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A Review of A Worth Tradition: Freedom of Speech in America by Harry Kalven, Jr.

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Free Speech And The "Acid Bath": An Evaluation And Critique Of Judge Richard Posner's Economic Interpretation Of The First Amendment, Peter J. Hammer Nov 1988

Free Speech And The "Acid Bath": An Evaluation And Critique Of Judge Richard Posner's Economic Interpretation Of The First Amendment, Peter J. Hammer

Michigan Law Review

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Part I of this Note introduces the mechanics of the model Judge Posner has developed to determine whether restrictions upon speech should be upheld. Part II evaluates and critiques Posner's method from an internal perspective. This is first done by examining the theoretical foundations and assumptions of his economic perspective. This part then turns to testing the output and conclusions of the model to determine how successfully the theory can be turned into practice. Part III constitutes an external critique of Posner's model. This part addresses the question of whether the first amendment should be thought of in economic terms. …

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The Apologetics Of Suppression: The Regulation Of Pornography As Act And Idea, Steven G. Gey Jun 1988

The Apologetics Of Suppression: The Regulation Of Pornography As Act And Idea, Steven G. Gey

Michigan Law Review

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The first three parts of this article discuss in detail the relationship between the Supreme Court's obscenity rulings and the academic theories that have been offered to bolster the conclusions reached by the Court in this area. Part IV of the article considers a contrary theory of free expression that requires constitutional protection for the dissemination and possession of pornography. In this section I argue that the present efforts to ban pornography are directly linked to a tolerance model of free expression. The tolerance model, which is usually contrasted with an analytical approach characterized by Holmesian skepticism, necessarily relies upon …

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Toward A Universal Standard: Free Exercise And The Sanctuary Movement, Troy Harris Jun 1988

Toward A Universal Standard: Free Exercise And The Sanctuary Movement, Troy Harris

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

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This Note will first look at the combination of circumstances and beliefs that compel members of the Sanctuary Movement to break the law. Second, it will examine current free exercise doctrine that may provide first amendment protection to Sanctuary workers, concluding that the cases reflect two parallel, yet incompatible, rationales. Following one line of cases, Sanctuary activity should be protected; following the other line, it should be condemned. Third, this Note will resolve the inconsistency of these rationales by proposing a new universal test for free exercise claims. Fourth, it will explore the details of recent cases involving Sanctuary workers …

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Public Prayer And The Constitution, Ethan M. Posner May 1988

Public Prayer And The Constitution, Ethan M. Posner

Michigan Law Review

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A Review of Public Prayer and the Constitution by Rodney K. Smith

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The Believer And The Powers That Are, Elizabeth Ferguson May 1988

The Believer And The Powers That Are, Elizabeth Ferguson

Michigan Law Review

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A Review of The Believer and the Powers That Are by John T. Noonan, Jr.

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Prurient Interest And Human Dignity: Pornography Regulation In West Germany And The United States, Mathias Reimann Jan 1988

Prurient Interest And Human Dignity: Pornography Regulation In West Germany And The United States, Mathias Reimann

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

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This Article examines the regulation of pornography in West Germany and compares it to regulation in the United States. Part I provides an overview of the legal framework- constitutional and statutory-of pornography regulation in West Germany. Part II then traces the evolution of the concept of human dignity as a standard for defining pornography in West Germany, and Part III illustrates the practical impact of the idea in two widely debated recent cases. Part IV argues that West Germany's human dignity approach to pornography regulation raises important questions about how to view pornography, but that cultural and constitutional differences between …

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Hard-Core Pornography: A Proposal For A Per Se Rule, Bruce A. Taylor Jan 1988

Hard-Core Pornography: A Proposal For A Per Se Rule, Bruce A. Taylor

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

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Part I of this Article discusses the history and pervasiveness of the pornography problem. Part II explains the current legal test for obscenity, as evolved from Miller v. California, with an emphasis on terms commonly used in the definition of obscenity. Part III examines the problems in applying Miller that suggest that the application of a per se hard-core pornography rule may be appropriate. Finally, Part IV presents a proposal for a per se hard-core pornography rule, similar to child pornography laws existing in many jurisdictions and upheld by the Supreme Court in New York v. Ferber. This Article concludes …

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Pornography And Obscenity Sold In "Adult Bookstores": A Survey Of 5132 Books, Magazines, And Films In Four American Cities, Park Elliott Dietz, Alan E. Sears Jan 1988

Pornography And Obscenity Sold In "Adult Bookstores": A Survey Of 5132 Books, Magazines, And Films In Four American Cities, Park Elliott Dietz, Alan E. Sears

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

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During the eighteen months that the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (the Commission) conducted public hearings, public discussion, and staff research, one of the most common types of inquiry directed to the staff consisted of questions as to the content of pornography currently available in the United States. Critics of the Commission's work asserted that the pornography used as exhibits by witnesses at the public hearings was extreme, not commonly available, or unrepresentative of that sold in pornography retail outlets; The only pertinent, quantitative data available to the Commission appeared in a single report in the American Journal of Psychiatry …

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Brief Amici Curiae Of Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce, Et Al., In American Booksellers Association V. Hudnut, Nan D. Hunter, Sylvia A. Law Jan 1988

Brief Amici Curiae Of Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce, Et Al., In American Booksellers Association V. Hudnut, Nan D. Hunter, Sylvia A. Law

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

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The document that follows represents both a legal brief and a political statement. It was written for two purposes: to mobilize, in a highly visible way, a broad spectrum of feminist opposition to the enactment of laws expanding state suppression of sexually explicit material; and to place before the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit a cogent legal argument for the constitutional invalidity of an Indianapolis municipal ordinance that would have permitted private civil suits to ban such material, purportedly to protect women. Drafting this brief was one of the most demanding and exhilarating assignments either author has yet …

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