First Amendment Commons^™

Hate Speech On Social Media, Amos N. Guiora, Elizabeth Park

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay expounds on Raphael Cohen-Almagor’s recent book, Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side, Moral and Social Responsibility on the Free Highway, and advocates placing narrow limitations on hate speech posted to social media websites. The Internet is a limitless platform for information and data sharing. It is, in addition, however, a low-cost, high-speed dissemination mechanism that facilitates the spreading of hate speech including violent and virtual threats. Indictment and prosecution for social media posts that transgress from opinion to inciteful hate speech are appropriate in limited circumstances. This article uses various real-world examples to explore when limitations on Internet-based hate …

The Commercial Difference, Felix T. Wu

William & Mary Law Review

When it comes to the First Amendment, commerciality does, and should, matter. This Article develops the view that the key distinguishing characteristic of corporate or commercial speech is that the interest at stake is “derivative,” in the sense that we care about the speech interest for reasons other than caring about the rights of the entity directly asserting a claim under the First Amendment. To say that the interest is derivative is not to say that it is unimportant, and one could find corporate and commercial speech interests to be both derivative and strong enough to apply heightened scrutiny to …

Looking Backward, Moving Forward: What Must Be Remembered When Resolving The Right To Be Forgotten, Katherine Stewart

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In May 2014, the European Court of Justice decided Google Spain v. AEPD and González and granted citizens the right to be forgotten, rather, the right to request any search engine offering services to European consumers to remove certain results displayed after a search of a citizen’s name. This decision has also resulted in an ongoing battle between Google and the Commission Nationale de l’Infomatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France’s data protection authority. The CNIL believes that Google must apply the right to be forgotten to all domains worldwide, including Google.com. Google, however, has been reluctant to do so, given …

Manipulation Of Suspects And Unrecorded Questioning, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Fifty years after Miranda, courts still do not have clear guidance on the types oftechniques police may use during interrogation. While first-generation tactics (a.k.a. the third degree) are banned, second-generation tactics such as those found in the famous Reid Manual continue to be used by interrogators. The Supreme Court has sent only vague signals as to which of these second- generation techniques, if any, are impermissible, and has made no mention of newly developed third-generation tactics that are much less reliant on manipulation. This Article divides second-generation techniques into four categories: impersonation, rationalization, fabrication, and negotiation. After concluding, based on …

Rights Dynamism, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Commercial Difference, Felix T. Wu

Articles

When it comes to the First Amendment, commerciality does, and should, matter. This Article develops the view that the key distinguishing characteristic of corporate or commercial speech is that the interest at stake is “derivative,” in the sense that we care about the speech interest for reasons other than caring about the rights of the entity directly asserting a claim under the First Amendment. To say that the interest is derivative is not to say that it is unimportant, and one could find corporate and commercial speech interests to be both derivative and strong enough to apply heightened scrutiny to …

Nlrb Jurisdiction Over Religious Schools And The Religion Clause Of The First Amendment, Richard J. Curiale

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Discrimination And Association, Caleb C. Wolanek

Concordia Law Review

In September 2016, the United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a report entitled Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties. In that report, the Commission argued that the law permits—and justice requires—that decision-makers prioritize nondiscrimination over civil liberties like freedom of religion and freedom of association. For example, the report endorsed the view that religious liberty should be limited as much as possible to freedom of belief; conduct “should conform to law.” This is because religion is discriminatory and can be used as a front for discriminatory activities. Nondiscrimination policies, in contrast, “are of preeminent importance.” Religious exemptions …

Reporter's Privilege And The First Amendment, Angela M. Demeo

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Speaking Of Workplace Harassment: A First Amendment Push Toward A Status-Blind Statute Regulating "Workplace Bullying", Jessica R. Vartanian

Maine Law Review

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes discrimination in employment unlawful, but only based on certain suspect classes: race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Courts have interpreted the statute to ban workplace harassment in this same limited fashion, refusing to recognizg harassment claims based on sexual orientation or any other unspecified classification.Although Congress may regulate in this selective manner consistent with equal protection, workplace harassment differs from other forms of discrimination proscribed under Title VII in one very important respect—workplace harassment is often achieved through an array of expression traditionally protected under the First Amendment

The Lautsi Decision And The American Establishment Clause Experience: A Response To Professor Weiler, William P. Marshall

Maine Law Review

In Lautsi v. Italy, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) held that an Italian law requiring crucifixes to be displayed in public school classrooms did not violate the European Convention on Human Rights (“European Convention”). In so holding, the ECHR sent the message that it would not incorporate American nonestablishment norms into its interpretation of the European Convention. They key advocate behind the Lautsi decision was Professor Joseph Weiler. Representing the nations intervening in the case on behalf of Italy, Professor Weiler took the lead in arguing against a strict nonestablishment interpretation of the European Convention—the position that the …

The Symbolic Garden: An Intersection Of The Food Movement And The First Amendment, Jaime Bouvier

Maine Law Review

What is communicated when a neighbor raises raspberries instead of roses on the porch trellis, grows lacinato kale rather than creeping bentgrass in the front yard, or keeps Buckeye hens rather than a bulldog? This essay asserts that these and other urban agricultural practices are expensive—that they are not just ends in themselves but are commutative acts. These acts are intended to educate neighbors, assert a viewpoint, establish identity, and area widely viewed as symbols of support for a social and political movement—what Michael Pollan has dubbed the “Food Movement.” And, as symbolic acts, they deserve protection under the First …

The State Response To Hazelwood V. Kuhlmeier, Tyler J. Buller

Maine Law Review

It’s hard to predict what an average member of the public thinks when he or she hears the words “student newspaper.” Opinions vary. This Article goes beyond that public perception and demonstrates that student journalists across the country are doing work that matters. Student reporters uncover corruption, help hold government officials accountable to taxpayers and the public, and bring to light important issues that would otherwise go unreported. They allow students to develop academically, professionally, and socially. And they give a voice to developing citizens who are often disenfranchised from voting, holding elected office, or otherwise participating in politics and …

The Tension Between Equal Protection And Religious Freedom, John M. Greabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "The Constitution did not become our basic law at a single point in time. We ratified its first seven articles in 1788 but have since amended it 27 times. Many of these amendments memorialize fundamental shifts in values. Thus, it should come as no surprise to learn that the Constitution is not an internally consistent document."

…

"Other constitutional provisions -- even provisions that were simultaneously enacted -- protect freedoms that can come into conflict with one another. The First Amendment, for example, promises both freedom from governmental endorsement of religion and freedom from governmental interference with religious practice. …

Trending Now: The Role Of Defamation Law In Remedying Harm From Social Media Backlash, Cory Batza

Pepperdine Law Review

Defamatory comments on social media have become commonplace. When the online community is outraged by some event, social media users often flood the Internet with hateful and false comments about the alleged perpetrator, feeling empowered by their numbers and anonymity. This wave of false and harmful information about an individual’s reputation has caused many individuals to lose their jobs and suffer severe emotional trauma. This Comment explores whether the target of social media backlash can bring a successful defamation claim against the users who have destroyed their reputations on and offline. Notably, one of the biggest hurdles these plaintiffs will …

Government Identity Speech Programs: Understanding And Applying The New Walker Test, Leslie Gielow Jacobs

Pepperdine Law Review

In Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., the Court extended its previous holding in Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, that a city’s donated park monuments were government speech, to the privately proposed designs that Texas accepts and stamps onto its specialty license plates. The placement of the program into the new doctrinal category is significant because the selection criteria for government–private speech combinations that produce government speech are “exempt from First Amendment scrutiny.” By contrast, when the government selects private speakers to participate in a private speech forum, its criteria must be reasonable in light of …

Newsroom: Trump: Full Employment For Lawyers 04-04-2017, David Logan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Rwu First Amendment Blog: David Logan's Blog: Donald Trump And The Full-Employment-For-Lawyers Presidency, David A. Logan

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Heffernan V. City Of Paterson: Watering Down The First Amendment Retaliation Doctrine To Create A Perception Of Protection For Public Employees, Peter J. Artese

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Intermediate Scrutiny For Corporate Political Contributions, Joseph K. Leahy

Florida State University Law Review

A corporation contributes to a Super PAC that supports a candidate for public office. A shareholder sues, alleging that management breached its duty of loyalty by making the contribution to promote its own political views rather than to serve the corporation’s best interests—i.e., by acting in bad faith. What standard will a Delaware court apply when reviewing management’s decision to cause the corporation to make the contribution?

Myriad scholars have opined that the court will apply the standard of review for ordinary business decisions: the management-friendly business judgment rule. Unfortunately for our shareholder plaintiff, this rule presumes that management acts …

Clark Memorandum: Spring 2017, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society Of The J. Reuben Clark Law School

The Clark Memorandum

• A Graduate Program of Real Consequence (Kevin J Worthen)
• Promoting Religious Freedom in a Secular Age (Elder Lance B. Wickman)
• Religious Liberty Versus Secularity (Matthew S. Holland)
• Audacious Faith (Brett G. Scharffs)

A First Amendment Deference Approach For Reforming Anti-Bullying Laws, Emily Suski

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the anti-bullying laws and their response to the problem of bullying in light of both the nature of the problem itself, the interventions the laws call for, and the laws’ First Amendment implications. Bullying has many varied, negative consequences, some tragic, and is widespread. Yet, the anti-bullying laws disproportionately focus schools’ responses to bullying on school exclusion, meaning suspending, expelling or otherwise excluding students who bully from school. This is so even though social science literature has found school exclusion ineffective and sometimes counterproductive as a method for addressing bullying. What is more, because much of bullying …

“Illegal” Migration Is Speech, Daniel I. Morales

Indiana Law Journal

Noncitizens must comply with immigration laws just because citizens say so. The citizenry takes for granted its monopoly on immigration control, but the legitimacy of this arrangement has been called into question by cutting-edge political theorists. One prominent theorist argues, for example, that basic democratic principles require that noncitizens living outside the United States have a say in the formation of immigration law since they must obey it. This Article provides a legal response to these political theory developments, assimilating them, along with the facts on the ground, into an account of “illegal” migration as First Amendment speech.

If noncitizens’ …

Voting, Spending, And The Right To Participate, Robert Yablon

Northwestern University Law Review

While the law governing the electoral process has changed dramatically in the past decade, one thing has stayed the same: Courts and commentators continue to view voting in elections and spending on elections through distinct constitutional lenses. On the spending side, First Amendment principles guide judicial analysis, and recent decisions have been strongly deregulatory. On the voting side, courts rely on a makeshift equal protection-oriented framework, and they have tended to be more accepting of regulation. Key voting and spending precedents seldom cite each other. Similarly, election law scholars typically address voting and spending in isolation.

This Article challenges the …

The Scrying Game: The First Amendment, The Rise Of Spiritualism, And State Prohibition And Regulation Of The Crafty Sciences, 1848-1944, Christine Corcos

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Modern University Campus: An Unsafe Space For The Student Press?, Patrick Malone

Fordham Law Review

This Note summarizes how courts have interpreted the First Amendment’s application to student publications on university campuses. It then considers the evolution of Title IX and how it has affected students’ First Amendment rights. Additionally, it acknowledges the interests at stake on the part of student publications and broader campus communities. Ultimately, this Note argues that the Department of Education should issue updated guidance that ensures adequate First Amendment protections for students and their publications. It also proposes steps that actors can take on university campuses to support this effort.

The Modern University Campus: An Unsafe Space For The Student Press?, Patrick Malone

Fordham Law Review

This Note summarizes how courts have interpreted the First Amendment’s application to student publications on university campuses. It then considers the evolution of Title IX and how it has affected students’ First Amendment rights. Additionally, it acknowledges the interests at stake on the part of student publications and broader campus communities. Ultimately, this Note argues that the Department of Education should issue updated guidance that ensures adequate First Amendment protections for students and their publications. It also proposes steps that actors can take on university campuses to support this effort.

Keeping Gideon's Promise: Using Equal Protection To Address The Denial Of Counsel In Misdemeanor Cases, Lauren Sudeall, Brandon Buskey

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees criminal defendants the right to counsel, and the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that right is applicable to all defendants in felony cases, even those unable to afford a lawyer. Yet, for defendants facing misdemeanor charges, only those defendants whose convictions result in incarceration are entitled to the assistance of counsel.

The number of misdemeanor prosecutions has increased dramatically in recent years, as have the volume and severity of collateral consequences attached to such convictions; yet, the Court's right to counsel jurisprudence in this area has remained stagnant. Critics of the …

Justice Scalia And Abortion Speech, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: Panel: The Press & The President 3-28-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.