First Amendment Commons^™

Religious Convictions And Lawmaking, Kent Greenawalt

Michigan Law Review

In Part I, I introduce the subject of liberal democracy, rationality, and religion. I explain briefly why this subject merits our attention. I then indicate variant positions about it and my own summary conclusions. I develop a partial model of our liberal democracy from which the issue can be addressed in context. I next consider two kinds of concrete social issues, consenting sexual acts among adults and the protection of animals and the natural environment. During this treatment I indicate more fully how religious convictions affect judgments about desirable laws, and I analyze the claim that good citizens should not …

Administrative Regulation Of The High School Press, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the constitutional limits on administrative regulation of publications by and for public high school students. Part I discusses the widely divergent standards adopted by different circuits. Part II describes the hard line the Supreme Court has taken against restraints on free expression in the adult context and the different circumstances that justify limiting freedom of expression in high schools. Part III discusses the timing of administrative regulation of student speech. This Part argues that prior restraint is constitutionally acceptable and, in fact, preferable to subsequent punishment so long as its use is governed by proper criteria. Part …

Backing Off Bivens And The Ramifications Of This Retreat For The Vindication Of First Amendment Rights, Joan Steinman

Michigan Law Review

In Part I of this Article, Chappell and Bush are analyzed against the backdrop of the preceding Bivens cases. The analysis explains how these cases presented situations that were similar to one another but unlike any the Supreme Court previously had faced in Bivens cases. It demonstrates how the Court departed from the line of analysis that its previous Bivens cases had established, in a way that makes it more difficult for at least some plaintiffs seeking vindication of their constitutional rights to succeed in having a money damage remedy implied directly under the Constitution. The Article then argues that …

Freedom Of Association After Roberts V. United States Jaycees, Douglas O. Linder

Michigan Law Review

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Roberts v. United States Jaycees, upholding a Minnesota ruling which requires the Minnesota Jaycees to admit women as full members, ended one controversy but marked only the beginning of a far larger one. It was predicted by many that U.S. Jaycees would answer the question of whether private associations with restrictive membership policies were vulnerable to state anti-discrimination laws or were constitutionally protected. It did not. Instead, while rejecting the Jaycees' constitutional claims, the Court established a comprehensive framework for analyzing future claims of associational freedom that contains a number of …

The Press And The Public Interest: An Essay On The Relationship Between Social Behavior And The Language Of First Amendment Theory, Lee C. Bollinger

Michigan Law Review

I would like to explore in this essay one aspect of the contemporary American debate over the theory of freedom of speech and press. The subject I want to address is this: whether the principle of freedom of speech and press should be viewed as protecting some personal or individual interest in speaking and writing or whether it should be seen as fostering a collective or public interest. Sometimes this issue is stated as being whether the first amendment protects a "right to speak" or a "right to hear," though in general the problem seems to be whether we should …

In Search Of A Free Speech Principle, Mark G. Yudof

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry by Frederick Schauer

Secondary Consumer Picketing, Statutory Interpretation And The First Amendment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines both the statutory and constitutional implications of Safeco and Tree Fruits. It suggests that the confusion surrounding existing Board and court interpretations of section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) stems from the Supreme Court's failure to assess realistically the impact that consumer picketing has on secondary businesses, as well as the Court's refusal to examine the objectives of unions that resort to secondary picketing.

The First Amendment Reconsidered: New Perspectives On The Meaning Of Freedom Of Speech And Press, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The First Amendment Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Meaning of Freedom of Speech and Press edited by Bill F. Chamberlin and Charlene J. Brown

Speech And Law In A Free Society, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Speech and Law in a Free Society by Franklyn S. Haiman

The Skokie Legacy: Reflections On An "Easy Case" And Free Speech Theory, Lee C. Bollinger

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Defending My Enemy: American Nazis, the Skokie Case, and the Risks of Freedom by Aryeh Neier

State And Local Limitations On Ballot Measure Contributions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note's thesis is that ballot measure limitations unconstitutionally infringe upon the rights of free speech and association. Part I analyzes Buckley and concludes that the CARC court misapplied its distinction between contributions and direct expenditures. Part II tests ballot measure limitations against Buckley's "exacting scrutiny" standard. It identifies the state interests asserted in defense of ballot measure limitations - lessening abuse by narrow interest groups, reducing apathy, and equalizing political expression - and concludes that ballot measure limitations do not permissibly further these governmental interests.

Restrictions On Electric Utility Advertising, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note reconsiders the constitutionality of New York's restriction on advertising by electric utilities. Section I explains how and why the Supreme Court's current analysis of the first amendment distinguishes commercial speech from other forms of speech. Section II looks at what protection is due commercial speech and weighs the competing interests in the specific context of utility advertising. The Note concludes that states may restrict utility advertising to encourage energy conservation.

The Nonpartisan Freedom Of Expression Of Public Employees, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Governmental activities affect each of us in a myriad of ways. The government's role as employer may pale in comparison with the more glamorous activities of the government as national defender, law enforcer, and allocator of scarce resources. Yet the legal ramifications of public employment-where the public interest in efficient governmental operation often conflicts with the public employee's freedom-have a profound influence upon American society.

In 1968, the Supreme Court in Pickering v. Board of Education formulated a test designed to balance these interests in defining the scope of a public employee's freedom of expression. In examining the nonpartisan free …

Hostile-Audience Confrontations: Police Conduct And First Amendment Rights, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note first suggests an explicit standard for police conduct in the hostile-audience situation that defines procedures the police must follow at various stages to avoid violating the first amendment. The standard reflects the fact that first amendment free speech rights are not absolute and that such rights must be weighed against both compelling state interests and the competing constitutional claims of other persons. It seeks to reconcile the interest in public order with our constitutional commitment to open discussion and robust debate. Finally, to deter police abuse of first amendment rights in the hostile-audience context, reforms of tort law …

Freedom Of The Press And Public Access: Toward A Theory Of Partial Regulation Of The Mass Media, Lee C. Bollinger Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to examine critically these decisions and to explore whether there is any rational basis for limiting to one sector of the media the legislature's power to impose access regulation. The article takes the position that the Court has pursued the right path for the wrong reasons. There is a powerful rationality underlying the current decision to restrict regulatory authority to broadcasting, but it is not, as is commonly supposed, that broadcasting is somehow different in principle from the print media and that it therefore is not deserving of equivalent first amendment treatment. As will …

Reaffirming The Freedom Of The Press: Another Look At Miami Herald Publishing Co. V. Tornillo, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This note does not take issue with the result of the decision. Rather, the argument herein is that the access theory deserves more complete consideration. The Court used first amendment precedents to strike down the reply statute without exploring whether the rationale behind these precedents mandated such a result. In an effort to justify more fully the Court's conclusion, this note will first present the underlying rationale of the pro-access argument. It will then analyze the constitutionality of statutes that would implement a right of access. Finally, the note will discuss several practical difficulties that access legislation would present.

The Expanding Constitutional Protection For The News Media From Liability For Defamation: Predictability And The New Synthesis, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The tort of defamation has a long and complex history dating back to the sixteenth century. Though this tort from the very beginning did not find favor with the law courts, it has managed to survive into the second half of the twentieth century. But this survival may not endure much longer since the Supreme Court has found a deep conflict between the law of defamation and the first amendment. The reasons for this conflict and the Supreme Court's basic resolution of it in favor of first amendment values have been the subject of much scholarly comment, but the Court's …

The Newsman's Privilege: An Empirical Study, Vince Blasi

Michigan Law Review

Today, the statutory, common-law, and constitutional aspects of the long-dormant problem are being re-examined by many legislators, judges, and academicians. The Supreme Court is scheduled to address the constitutional question some time this term. I propose to enter this fray. In this article, I will report the results of an empirical survey that I have undertaken. In subsequent articles, I will analyze the eighteen state statutes that grant newsmen a privilege, consider whether protection for the reporter-news source relationship is compelled by existing common-law principles, and address the question whether a newsman's privilege is properly to be inferred from the …

Constitutional Law--Obscenity--The Right To An Adversary Hearing On The Issue Of Obscenity Prior To The Seizure Of Furtively Distributed Films, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will discuss the procedural safeguards that must be provided when allegedly obscene materials are seized prior to distribution. The discussion will emphasize a consideration of the question whether the procedural requirements with respect to the seizure of printed materials are also applicable to the seizure of films, particularly those films that are being or are intended to be furtively distributed.

Labor Law--Picketing--Constitutional Law--First Amendment Challenges By Federal Employees To The Broad Labor Picketing Proscription Of Executive Order 11491, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will consider the constitutional validity of section 19(b)(4)'s broad prohibition against federal-employee labor picketing. However, before the first amendment questions are considered, two preliminary issues should be discussed.

Prior Restraints On Demonstrations, Vince Blasi

Michigan Law Review

The starting point for the analysis that follows is the belief that new constitutional doctrine--both substantive and procedural--is urgently needed. That conclusion rests on two critical assumptions--assumptions which may not be shared by others who read history differently, or who have had different personal experiences regarding prior restraints on demonstrations, or who have different behavioral impressions based on observation and conversation, or best of all, who have quantitative data on the problem.

A Requiem For Requiems: The Supreme Court At The Bar Of Reality, Stanley K. Laughlin Jr.

Michigan Law Review

It is true that the test set out in Roth v. United States is moribund. In a sense it was stillborn. While five Justices, only one of whom remains on the Court, joined in the majority opinion in Roth, that case only adumbrated certain considerations that later were forged into what has come to be known as the Roth test. No sooner did the forging process begin than the Court became fragmented on this issue, and a majority of the Justices has never since concurred in the test-certainly not in a compatible formulation of it. Today, it is not …

Constitutional Law--Church And State--Freedom Of Religion--The Constitutionality Under The Religion Clauses Of The First Amendment Of Compulsory Sex Education In Public Schools, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

It has been said that "[s]ex education, once the domain of the church and the home, has by necessity, become a responsibility of the schools." Indeed, by the operation of most state education statutes, sex education can be made compulsory in public primary and secondary schools if it is taught as part of otherwise compulsory classes or if the local school authorities have prescribed sex education courses as a compulsory part of the curriculum. While some of the state statutes authorize exemptions on religious grounds, most do not. Nevertheless, the introduction of sex education into public schools has not been …

Requiem For Roth: Obscenity Doctrine Is Changing, David E. Engdahl

Michigan Law Review

In 1957, the Supreme Court decided Roth v. United States and Alberts v. California, and thereby commenced what has proved to be one of the most perplexing and politically sensitive tasks the Court has ever undertaken-determining the constitutional limitations on the power of state and federal governments to regulate obscenity. After twelve years of decisions in the obscenity field, the regrettable truth is that "no stable approach to the obscenity problem has yet been devised by [the] Court." The unreconciled conflicts among the several opinions of Supreme Court Justices ·written since 1957, and the new uncertainties created by the …

The Free Exercise Of Religion: A Sociological Approach, Joseph M. Dodge Ii

Michigan Law Review

No overriding theory has heretofore been proposed capable of allocating the various rules of decision in free exercise cases according to an appropriate classification of fact situations. This Article suggests an objective sociological approach to defining and weighing the governmental and religious interests inhering in a given free exercise claim in order to eliminate value preferences from the constitutional weighing process. Religious interests will be ranked according to functional criteria internal to all religious systems and not dependent upon the belief content of any given sect. State interests will be analyzed in terms of formalized modes of governmental action involving …

The Warren Court: Religious Liberty And Church-State Relations, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to analyze the holdings of the Warren Court under these two clauses in an attempt to assess their significance by reference both to earlier interpretations and to the direction they may give to future development.

"Uninhibited, Robust, And Wide-Open"--A Note On Free Speech And The Warren Court, Harry Kalven Jr.

Michigan Law Review

There are several ways to give at the outset, in quick summary, an over-all impression of the Warren Court in the area of the first amendment. The quotation in the title can for many reasons be taken as its trademark. The quotation comes, of course, from a statement about public debate made in the Court's preeminent decision, New York Times v. Sullivan, and it carries echoes of Alexander Meiklejohn. We have, according to Justice Brennan, "a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open .... " What catches the eye is …

The Warren Court And The Press, John P. Mackenzie

Michigan Law Review

The conventional wisdom about the relationship between the ·warren Court and the news media runs something like this: With a few exceptions, the press corps is populated by persons with only a superficial understanding of the Court, its processes, and the values with which it deals. The Court has poured out pages of legal learning, but its reasoning has been largely ignored by a result-oriented news industry interested only in the superficial aspects of the Court's work. The Court can trace much of its "bad press," its "poor image," to the often sloppy and inaccurate work of news gatherers operating …

Constitutional Law--Freedom Of Speech--Desecration Of National Symbols As Protected Political Expression, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Protest groups have long recognized the publicity value of engaging in dramatic kinds of symbolic behavior to express their disapproval of government policy, and recently they have resorted to the desecration of traditionally "sacred" symbols to achieve this end. Recourse to conduct offensive to the patriotic and religious sensibilities of large segments of the population seems to have paralleled the advent of widespread civil disobedience as an instrument of political persuasion. Specifically, dissent over the Vietnam war has produced a number of incidents involving public disrespect for the American flag. Thus, a need has arisen to analyze the extent to …

Carmen: Movies, Censorship And The Law, Abner J. Mikva

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Movies, Censorship and the Law by Ira H. Carmen