First Amendment Commons^™

State Government Speech In A Federal System, Laura J. Hendrickson

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

Higher Education, Harassment, And First Amendment Opportunism, Kenneth L. Marcus

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Intelligent Design In Public University Science Departments: Academic Freedom Or Establishment Of Religion, Frank S. Ravitch

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Falsity, Insincerity, And The Freedom Of Expression, Mark Spottswood

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Three decades ago, the Supreme Court announced that false statements of fact are devoid of constitutional value, without providing either a reasoned explanation for that principle or any supporting citations. This assertion has become one of the most frequently repeated dogmas of First Amendment law and theory, endlessly repeated and never challenged. Disturbingly, this idea has provided the theoretic foundation for a regime in which some speakers can be penalized for even honestly believed factual errors. Even worse, this dogma is flat wrong.

False statements often have value in themselves, and we should protect them even in some situations where …

Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger And The Law, Ira Robbins

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The middle finger is one of the most commonly used insulting gestures in the United States. The finger, which is used to convey a wide range of emotions, is visible on streets and highways, in schools, shopping malls, and sporting events, in courts and execution chambers, in advertisements and on magazine covers, and even on the hallowed floor of the United States Senate. Despite its ubiquity, however, as a number of recent cases demonstrate, those who use the middle finger in public run the risk of being stopped, arrested, prosecuted, fined, and even incarcerated under disorderly conduct or breach of …

Sanctionable Conduct: How The Supreme Court Stealthily Opened The Schoolhouse Gate, Sonja R. West

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court's decision in Morse v. Frederick signaled that public school authority over student expression extends beyond the schoolhouse gate. This authority may extend to any activity in which a student participates that the school has officially sanctioned. The author argues that this decision is unsupported by precedent, and could encourage schools to sanction more events in the future. Because the Court failed to limit or define the power of a school to sanction an activity, the decision could have a chilling effect on even protected student expression. The author commends the Court for taking up this issue after …

The Pledge Of Allegiance In The Classroom And The Court: An Epic Struggle Over The Meaning Of The Establishment Clause Of The First Amendment, Brian Wheeler

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Anti-Harassment Provisions Revisited: No Bright-Line Rule, Martha Mccarthy

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Court's Missed Opportunity In Harper V. Poway, Andrew Canter, Gabriel Pardo

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Contents, First Amendment Law Review

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

Speech And Subsidies: How Government Uses Financial Threats And Incentives To Dampen First Amendment Protections, Crandall Close

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court As Civic Educator: Free Speech According To Justice Kennedy, Helen J. Knowles

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

So Easily Offended - A First Amendment Analysis Of The Fcc's Evolving Regulation Of Broadcast Indecency And Standards For Our Contemporary Community, Paige Connor Worsham

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment, Journalists, And Sources: A Curious Study In "Reverse Federalism", Rodney A. Smolla

Scholarly Articles

Not available.

Student Speech: School Boards, Gay/Straight Alliances, And The Equal Access Act, Todd A. Demitchell, Richard Fossey

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Purging Religion From Prisons: The Constitutionality Of The Standardized Chapel Library Project, Andrew Lincoln

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

Free Speech, World War I, And Republican Democracy: The Internal And External Holmes, Stephen M. Feldman

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lost Without Translation: The Official English Movement And The First Amendment, Amy Mackin

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Two-Step Evidentiary And Causation Quandary For Medium- Specific Laws Targeting Sexual And Violent Content: First Proving Harm And Injury To Silence Speech, Then Proving Redress And Rehabilitation Through Censorship, Clay Calvert

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article argues that legislators today that want to suppress First Amendment-protected images of sexual and violent conduct conveyed on a specific medium face a steep two-step evidentiary burden. First, they must prove actual harm caused by the speech in question as it is conveyed on a specific medium--not the aggregate injury from viewing all media generallythat is sufficient to overcome free-speech rights. Second, even if sufficient harm from viewing violent or sexual content on a particular medium is proven by social science research, the government then must prove that its legislative remedy-its censorship of the harmful expression conveyed via …

The Colonel's Finest Campaign: Robert R. Mccormick And Near V. Minnesota, Eric B. Easton

Federal Communications Law Journal

Media corporations and their professional and trade associations, as well as organizations such as Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Civil Liberties Union, regularly monitor litigation that implicates First Amendment values and decide whether, when, and how to intervene. But that was not always the case. While media companies have always lobbied and litigated in support of their business interests-antitrust, copyright, postal rates, taxes-litigation by the institutional press to create or avoid doctrinal precedent under the First Amendment began only in the late 1920s. Once the United States Supreme Court recognized the incorporation of the First …

Reassessing Turner And Litigating The Must-Carry Law Beyond A Facial Challenge, R. Matthew Warner

Federal Communications Law Journal

In recent decades, the must-carry rules have had a troubled constitutional history. After two sets of rules were struck down by the D.C. Circuit for violating the First Amendment rights of both cable programmers and operators, Congress revised the must-carry rules in the 1992 Cable Act. In 1997, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, determined that the congressional must-carry law was facially constitutional. However, does the Turner II decision preclude further First Amendment challenges to the must-carry law? This Note argues that the answer is no and that the time is drawing near for new challenges.

Ball On A Needle: Hein V. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. And The Future Of Establishment Clause Adjudication, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Colonel's Finest Campaign: Robert R. Mccormick And Near V. Minnesota, Eric Easton

All Faculty Scholarship

Today, media corporations and their professional and trade associations, along with organizations like Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Civil Liberties Union, carefully monitor litigation that implicates First Amendment values and decide whether, when, and how to intervene. It was not always so. Litigation by an institutional press to avoid or create doctrinal precedent under the First Amendment really began with the appointment of Col. Robert R. McCormick to head the ANPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press in the spring of 1928 and his involvement in Near v. Minnesota beginning that fall. Because of McCormick's …

The First Amendment, Journalists, And Sources: A Curious Study In "Reverse Federalism", Rodney A. Smolla

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Are Journalists Privileged?: Panel Discussion, Anthony Lewis, Max Frankel, Victor Kovner

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Source Of The Problem Of Sources: The First Amendment Fails The Fourth Estate, Joel M. Gora

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Redefining The Question: Applying A Hierarchical Structure To The Mens Rea Requirement For Section 875(C), Karen Rosenfield

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shibboleths And Ceballos: Eroding Constitutional Rights Through Pseudocommunication, Susan Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

Recently, the Supreme Court rendered an inexplicable First Amendment decision that has far-reaching effects on the way government is held accountable to the public. In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Court determined that a government employer can retaliate against an employee for doing his job correctly, notwithstanding the Constitution, so long as the employer targets speech that was part of the employee’s official duties. Inasmuch as government employees are often responsible for reporting government misconduct and other matters of public concern, this opinion essentially leaves the public unprotected from the unbridled discretion of government supervisors. The possible motivations for this …

Citizen Teacher: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

The recent Supreme Court case of Garcetti v. Ceballos is becoming one of the most-used cases in its mere two-year history. It denies to public employees the protection of the First Amendment when speaking in their official duties. In reviewing the cases both leading up to and then relying oh Garcetti, one is struck by the inherent conflict that nowpermeates some school board-employee relationships. Whereas preceding cases attempted to reach a balance between the school board and its employees' speech rights, bad management practices now seem to trump the First Amendment. Such practices have school boards discharging teachers and …

Academic Freedom And The Post-Garcetti Blues, Sheldon Nahmod

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.