First Amendment Commons^™

The Price Of Porn & Pugilism: Reconciling Brown V. Entertainment Merchants Association With Ginsberg V. New York Through A Media-Specific Approach, Dennis A. Demarco

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Stop This Insanity, Inc., Et Al., Appellants, V. Federal Election Commission, Appellee: Brief Of Appellants, Dan Backer, Patricia E. Roberts, Jessica L. Delaney, Bryan U. Gividen, Tillman J. Breckenridge

Appellate and Supreme Court Clinic

No abstract provided.

Speech, Intent, And The Chilling Effect, Leslie Kendrick

William & Mary Law Review

Speaker’s intent requirements are a common but unremarked feature of First Amendment law. From the “actual malice” standard for defamation to the specific-intent requirement for incitement, many types of expression are protected or unprotected depending on the state of mind with which they are said. To the extent that courts and commentators have considered why speaker’s intent should determine First Amendment protection, they have relied upon the chilling effect. On this view, imposing strict liability for harmful speech, such as defamatory statements, would overdeter, or chill, valuable speech, such as true political information. Intent requirements are necessary prophylactically to provide …

The Supreme Court's Theory Of Private Law, Nathan B. Oman, Jason M. Solomon

Faculty Publications

In this Article, we revisit the clash between private law and the First Amendment in the Supreme Court’s recent case, Snyder v. Phelps, using a private-law lens. We are scholars who write about private law as individual justice, a perspective that has been lost in recent years but is currently enjoying something of a revival.

Our argument is that the Supreme Court’s theory of private law has led it down a path that has distorted its doctrine in several areas, including the First Amendment–tort clash in Snyder. In areas that range from punitive damages to preemption, the Supreme Court has …

The First Amendment’S Global Dimension, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

(No) State Interests In Regulating Gender: How Suppression Of Gender Nonconformity Violates Freedom Of Speech, Jeffrey Kosbie

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Despite limited growth in legal protections for transgender people, dress and appearance are largely treated as unprotected matters of personal preference. In response, lawyers and scholars argue that dress and appearance are intimately connected to the expression of identity. Nonetheless, courts have generally deferred to the government’s proffered justifications for these laws.

This article refocuses on the government’s alleged interests in regulating gender nonconformity. Using a First Amendment analysis, the article reveals how seemingly neutral government interests are used to single out conduct because it expresses messages of gender nonconformity. This approach avoids impossible questions about the subjective intent of …

Bridging The Liability Gap: How Kowalski's Interpretation Of Reasonable Foreseeability Limits School Liability For Inaction In Cases Of Cyberbullying, Christopher A. Sickles

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Chick-Fil-A And The Problem Of Soft Censorship, Nathan B. Oman

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Distorting Democracy: Campaign Lies In The 21st Century, Gerald G. Ashdown

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

"Worse Than The Disease": The Anti-Corruption Principle, Free Expression, And The Democratic Process, Martin H. Redish, Elana Nightingale Dawson

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Free Speech And Parity: A Theory Of Public Employee Rights, Randy J. Kozel

William & Mary Law Review

More than four decades have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court revolutionized the First Amendment rights of the public workforce. In the ensuing years the Court has embarked upon an ambitious quest to protect expressive liberties while facilitating orderly and efficient government. Yet it has never articulated an adequate theoretical framework to guide its jurisprudence.

This Article suggests a conceptual reorientation of the modern doctrine. The proposal flows naturally from the Court’s rejection of its former view that one who accepts a government job has no constitutional right to complain about its conditions. As a result of that rejection, the …

Looking Back At Cohen V. California: A 40 Year Retrospective From Inside The Court, Thomas G. Krattenmaker

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Hugo Black's Vision Of The Lawyer, The First Amendment, And The Duty Of The Judiciary: The Bar Applicant Cases In A National Security State, Joshua E. Kastenberg

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Teens, Sexts, & Cyberspace: The Constitutional Implications Of Current Sexting & Cyberbullying Laws, Jamie L. Williams

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

(Government) Speech Spaces, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Architectural Trusteeship, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Speech And Spatiality, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Reconciling Religious Free Exercise And National Security: Triumph Of The Ultimate Compelling Governmental Interest, Gregory P. Proseus

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Falsely Shouting Fire In A Global Theater: Emerging Complexities Of Transborder Expression, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

We have entered an era in which potentially harmful expression can be distributed around the world in an instant. In the emerging global theater, speakers and audiences are connected through new and proliferating media; communicative space and time are compressed to an extraordinary degree; domestic expression can implicate national security and foreign affairs concerns; and a new model of global information dissemination is developing in which speakers are sometimes located beyond the jurisdiction of nations that may be harmed by their communications and disclosures.

This Article examines the First Amendment complexities associated with the dissemination of potentially harmful information in …

Recovering The Assembly Clause, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

All A Twitter: Social Networking, College Athletes, And The First Amendment, Davis Walsh

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Campus Citizenship And Associational Freedom: An Aristolelian Take On The Nondiscrimination Puzzle, Chapin Cimino

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Student expressive association on campus is a thorny thicket. Student affinity groups often choose to organize around a shared principle or characteristic of the groups’ members, which, by definition, makes those students different in some way from their peers. In order to preserve the group’s sense of uniqueness, these groups often then wish to control their own membership and voting policies. They feel, in essence, entitled to discriminate—a right arguably embodied by the First Amendment freedom of expressive association. When campus groups actually exercise this right, however, they run into university antidiscrimination policies, which can cost them official campus recognition. …

Technologies Of Control And The Future Of The First Amendment, Christopher S. Yoo

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Censoring The Internet, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Occupation — Place, Balance, And Proximity, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Place, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Stolen Valor Act Discussion, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Public Protest 1.0, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Trans-Border Exclusion And Execution, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Auto-Authentication Of The Page: Purely Written Speech And The Doctrine Of Obscenity, Ryen Rasmus

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.