First Amendment Commons^™

City Court, City Of Rochester, People V. Barton, Kerri Grzymala

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Court, New York County, People V. James, Nicole Compas

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Appellate Division, First Department, For The People Theatres Of New York, Inc. V. City Of New York, Daphne Vlcek

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Court Of Appeals Of New York, Courtroom Television Network, Llc V. New York, Courtney Weinberger

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Cost To Carry: New York State’S Regulation On Firearm Registration, David D. Pelaez

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining The Line Between Constitutionally Protected Speech And True Threats: Can I Be Arrested For Being Annoying?, Allison E. Dolzani

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Neutral Discrimination – Selective Enforcement Of Religiously Neutral Laws And The First Amendment, Jeffrey Gautsche

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Speech Along The Atrocity Spectrum, Gregory S. Gordon

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Foreign Affairs And First Amendment Rights: Office Of Foreign Assets Control Prohibits Abc's Pan American Games Broadcast. Capital Cities/Abc, Inc. V. Brady, 740 F. Supp. 1007 (S.D.N.Y. June 29, 1990), Allison Sanford

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Two Tests Unite To Resolve The Tension Between The First Amendment And The Right Of Publicity, Dora Georgescu

Fordham Law Review

    The right of publicity is an established legal doctrine that grants individuals the exclusive right to control the commercial use of their image. Though it has many important and laudable uses, one unfortunate consequence of the right of publicity is that it restricts artists’ abilities to portray real persons in their works. In so doing, the right of publicity directly conflicts with the First Amendment protections of an individual’s freedom of expression.

    While the U.S. Supreme Court addressed this tension in Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., the Court did not create a clear standard for balancing the interests of …

Secret's Out: Third Circuit Find Delaware's State Sponsored Arbitration Program Violates First Amendment Right Of Public Access In Delaware Coalition For Open Government V. Strine, Dean J. Shauger

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Rights Speech, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

Freedom of expression has a complex and dynamic relationship with a number of other constitutional rights, including abortion, the right to bear arms, equal protection, the franchise, and religious liberty. This Article discusses one aspect of that relationship. It critically analyzes the regulation of "rights speech" - communications about or concerning the recognition, scope, or exercise of constitutional rights. As illustrative examples, the Article focuses on regulation of speech about abortion and the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Governments frequently manage, structure, and limit how individuals discuss constitutional rights. For example, laws and regulations compel physicians to convey information …

Think Of The Children: How The Role Of Students In The Classroom Informs Future Applications Of Garcetti V. Ceballos In Academic Contexts, Aaron Worthen

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Defamatory Fiction And Reader-Response Theory With Emphasis On The German Experience, Henry Ordower

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Finding An Appropriate Global Legal Paradigm For The Internet: United States And International Responses, Benjamin A. Perlman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Hammering Down Nails, Scott M. Lenhart

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Financing Elections And "Appearance Of Corruption": Citizen Attitudes And Behavior In 2012, Molly J. Walker Wilson

Catholic University Law Review

As political spending reaches new highs in the 2012 election cycle, and as the controversy surrounding wealthy donors and interest groups grows, polls demonstrate a surge of cynicism among Americans who profess a belief that the American political system is corrupt. The Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United made possible the most recent expansion of political spending. In this case, the question was whether allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on political advertising would result in corruption or the appearance of corruption. The majority on the Court determined that it would not. Many observers have …

Toward A Federal Constitutional Right To Employment, R. George Wright

Seattle University Law Review

This Article outlines an argument for a federal constitutional right to employment. The Article begins by examining the harms and costs of involuntary long-term unemployment. It then discusses the historical contributions to our understanding of the value of work, before drawing on several well-established jurisprudential distinctions to explain why, and to justify initial optimism regarding a constitutional employment right.

Partitioning And Rights: The Supreme Court's Accidental Jurisprudence Of Democratic Process, James A. Gardner

Florida State University Law Review

In democracies that allocate to a court responsibility for interpreting and enforcing the constitutional ground rules of democratic politics, the sheer importance of the task would seem to oblige such courts to guide their rulings by developing an account of the nature and prominent features of the constitutional commitment to democracy. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has from the beginning refused to develop a general account—a theory—of how the U.S. Constitution establishes and structures democratic politics. The Court’s diffidence left a vacuum at the heart of its constitutional jurisprudence of democratic process, and like most vacuums, this one was almost …

The Limits Of Child Pornography, Carissa Byrne Hessick

Indiana Law Journal

Although the First Amendment ordinarily protects the creation, distribution, and possession of visual images, the Supreme Court has declared that those protections do not apply to child pornography. But the Court has failed to clearly define child pornography as a category of speech. Providing a precise definition of the child pornography exception to the First Amendment has become increasingly important because recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the penalties associated with the creation, distribution, and possession of child pornography.

This Article proposes a clear definition of the child pornography exception. It argues that an image ought to fall …

The Structural Wall Of Separation And The Erroneous Claim Of Anti-Catholic Discrimination, Robert D. Goldstein

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

Speech Beyond Borders: Extraterritoriality And The First Amendment, Anna Su

Vanderbilt Law Review

Does the First Amendment follow the flag? In Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court categorically rejected the claim that constitutional rights do not apply at all to governmental actions taken against aliens located abroad. Instead, the Court made the application of such rights, the First Amendment presumably included, contingent on "objective factors and practical concerns." In addition, by affirming previous decisions, Boumediene also extended its functional test to cover even U.S. citizens, leaving them in a situation where they might be without any constitutional recourse for violations of their First Amendment rights. But lower courts have found in the recent …

Beyond The Schoolhouse Gates: The Unprecedented Expansion Of School Surveillance Authority Under Cyberbulling Laws, Emily Suski

Faculty Publications

For several years, states have grappled with the problem of cyberbullying and its sometimes devastating effects. Because cyberbullying often occurs between students, most states have understandably looked to schools to help address the problem. To that end, schools in forty-six states have the authority to intervene when students engage in cyberbullying. This solution seems all to the good unless a close examination of the cyberbullying laws and their implications is made. This Article explores some of the problematic implications of the cyberbullying laws. More specifically, it focuses on how the cyberbullying laws allow schools unprecedented surveillance authority over students. This …

Seeing It Coming Since 1945: State Bans And Regulations Of Crafty Sciences Speech And Activity, Christine Corcos

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Undoing Race? Reconciling Multiracial Identity With Equal Protection, Lauren Sudeall

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The number of multiracial individuals in America, many of whom define their racial identity in different ways, has grown dramatically in recent years and continues to increase. From this demographic shift a movement seeking unique racial status for multiracial individuals has emerged. The multiracial movement is distinguishable from other race-based movements in that it is primarily driven by identity rather than the quest for political, social, or economic equality. It is not clear how equal protection doctrine, which is concerned primarily with state-created racial classifications, will or should accommodate multiracialism. Nor is it clear how to best reconcile the recognition …

The Right To Free Exercise Of Religion In Prisons: How Courts Should Determine Sincerity Of Religious Belief Under Rluipa, Noha Moustafa

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Religion plays a vital role in the daily lives of many prisoners. For incarcerated persons, a connection to the divine can provide comfort during periods of isolation from their family and community. From a policy perspective, spiritual development and religious practice promote rehabilitation and reduce recidivism in inmates. While prisoners forfeit many of their civil liberties, Congress has ensured that religious exercise is not among them. As Congress enhanced religious freedom protections for prisoners, prison facilities became increasingly concerned that prisoners would feign religiosity to gain certain religious accommodations. To counter this concern, prison facilities conditioned accommodations on the sincerity …

Robert Bork & Commercial Speech, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Before he redefined antitrust, Judge Robert Bork took aim at the First Amendment. Though his work in this area was not nearly as influential, it received substantial attention, particularly after President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Bork to replace Justice Lewis Powell on the Supreme Court in 1987. Judge Bork's 1971 article, Neutral Principles and Some First Amendment Problems challenged the prevailing wisdom on the proper scope of First Amendment protections. In this article, published seven years before The Antitrust Paradox, Bork maintained that only "explicitly political" speech warranted constitutional protection. Other types of speech or expression, including much indisputably …

Tinkering With Success: College Athletes, Social Media And The First Amendment, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

Good law does not always make good policy. This article seeks to provide a legal assessment, not a policy directive. The policy choices made by individual institutions and athletic departments should be guided by law, but absolutely left to institutional discretion. Many articles written on college student-athletes' social media usage attempt to urge policy directives clothed in constitutional analysis.

In this author's opinion, these articles have lost perspective-constitutional perspective. This article seeks primarily to provide a legal and constitutional assessment so that schools and their athletic departments will have ample information to then make their own policy choices.

Sacred Cows, Holy Wars: Exploring The Limits Of Law In The Regulation Of Raw Milk And Kosher Meat, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

In a free society law and religion seldom coincide comfortably, tending instead to reflect the inherent tension that often resides between the two. This is nowhere more apparent than in America, where the underlying principle upon which the first freedom enunciated by the Constitution's Bill of Rights is based ‒ the separation of church and state – is conceptually at odds with the pragmatic compromises that may be reached. But our adherence to the primacy of individual rights and civil liberties ‒ that any activity must be permitted if it is not imposed upon others without their consent, and if …

Stop This Insanity, Inc., Et Al., Petitioners, V. Federal Election Commission, Respondent: Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari, Patricia E. Roberts, Tillman J. Breckenridge, Dan Backer

Appellate and Supreme Court Clinic

No abstract provided.