First Amendment Commons^™

Nea V. Finley: A Decision In Search Of A Rationale, Lackland H. Bloom Jr.

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Debate has raged over whether Congress can constitutionally restrict, or at least influence, the ability of the National Endowment for the Arts (“NEA”) to award grants to artists and institutions for the creation or display of art work that a significant segment of the public would consider highly offensive. In the October 1997 Term, the Supreme Court, by an 8-1 margin in NEA v. Finley, upheld section 954(d), a 1991 congressional amendment to the NEA Act that requires the Chairperson of the NEA to ensure that, in establishing regulations and procedures for assessing artistic excellence and artistic merit, “general standards …

Local Government Land Use Restrictions And Selected First Amendment Issues, Barbara Jo Nelson

LLM Theses and Essays

A local government's power to enact zoning regulations falls within the general power to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its citizenry. This thesis addresses a few selected First Amendment issues as they apply to zoning and land use restrictions in Georgia. Free speech review of zoning ordinances applies to zoning for adult sex businesses, such as adult book stores and cinemas. The First Amendment balancing test that is applicable to adult entertainment ordinances is discussed in Chapter One. The free speech impact of restrictions on signs and billboards is discussed in Chapter Two. Finally, in Chapter Three, …

Some Realistic Thinking About Secular Effects, Paul E. Salamanca

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Notwithstanding complaints about incoherence in Establishment Clause doctrine, courts by and large administer the Clause responsibly. They do so by mediating between a number of powerful considerations, none of which can ever be entirely disregarded. These considerations include, but are not limited to, separation of church and state, the value of religiosity, the imperative of affording equal treatment to religious and similarly situated nonreligious entities, and the proper role of courts in a democratic political system. This is not to say that courts cannot overstep their bounds and provoke an adverse reaction from other powerful elements within the polity. It …

Galileos Or Grave Robbers? Science, The Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, And The First Amendment, Michelle Hibbert

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Land Is Itself A Sacred, Living Being": Native American Sacred Site Protection On Federal Public Lands Amidst The Shadows Of Bear Lodge, Joel Brady

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Application-Centered Internet Analysis, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

There is a now-standard debate about law and the Internet. One side asserts that the Internet is so new and different that it calls for new legal approaches, even its own sovereign law. The other side argues that, although it is a new technology, the Internet nonetheless presents familiar legal problems. It is a battle of analogies: One side refers to Cyberspace as a place, while the other essentially equates the Internet and the telephone.

In my view, these two positions are both wrong and right: wrong in their characterization of the Internet as a whole, yet potentially right about …

Prying, Spying, And Lying: Intrusive Newsgathering And What The Law Should Do About It, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

The media’s use of intrusive newsgathering techniques poses an increasing threat to individual privacy. Courts currently resolve the overwhelming majority of conflicts in favor of the media. This is not because the First Amendment bars the imposition of tort liability on the media for its newsgathering practices. It does not. Rather, tort law has failed to seize the opportunity to create meaningful privacy protection. Most torts that affect newsgathering protect privacy only incidentally, and the tort of intrusion, which addresses newsgathering more directly, has been interpreted so narrowly that it provides little or no protection from the most common types …

Choppy Waters Are Forecast For Academic Free Speech, Rachel E. Fugate

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Clear And Present Danger Test, David R. Dow, R. Scott Shieldes

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sobriety Test: The Court Walks The Central Hudson Line Once Again In 44 Liquormart, But Passes On A New First Amendment Review, Aaron A. Schmoll

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 1980 the Supreme Court decided Central Hudson and, in so doing, articulated the parameters of the modern commercial speech doctrine. In providing a four-part test to determine the validity of government efforts to restrict commercial speech, the Court engaged in "intermediate scrutiny" and created the expectation among free speech advocates that the Court was finally ready to provide higher measure of constitutional protection to commercial speech. In the nearly fifteen years after Central Hudson, these advocates have been disappointed as the Court has inconsistently weighed the factors that comprise the test. The opportunity to adopt a less- manipulative …

First Amendment Trump?: The Uncertain Constitutionalization Of Structural Regulation Separating Telephone And Video, Susan Dente Ross

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Cable Act of 1984 contained a "cross-ownership" ban, which prohibited telephone companies from entering the local cable video market. Although the ban was challenged by telephone carriers on numerous grounds, the First Amendment was not the basis of any challenge until the mid-1990s when telephone companies sought to characterize themselves not just as carriers but as content suppliers, or "speakers," who were deprived of their right to speak as a result of common carrier regulations that were intended merely to control the economic structure of the communications industry. Using the First Amendment as a new-found constitutional weapon to challenge …

In Search Of A Smoking Gun: Tortious Interference With Nondisclosure Agreements As An Obstacle To Newsgathering, Mark J. Chasteen

Federal Communications Law Journal

In November 1995, the prominent CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes refrained from broadcasting an important interview with a former vice president of Brown & Williamson for fear of being liable for tortiously interfering with a confidentiality agreement between the employee and the tobacco company. This event illustrates a new concern facing media: specifically whether liability arises from broadcasting information that would be considered protected speech had the source not been a party to a nondisclosure agreement. It also illustrates an area of First Amendment jurisprudence that is as yet uncharted and for which there is no established standard that is easily …

City Of Boerne V. Flores: A Landmark For Structural Analysis, Marci A. Hamilton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Freedom Of Speech - How Does The New York State Constitution Compare To The United States Constitution?, Eileen Kaufman, Leon Friedman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prying, Spying And Lying: Intrusive Newsgather And What The Law Should Do About Them, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

The media's use of intrusive newsgathering techniques poses an increasing threat to individual privacy. Courts currently resolve the overwhelming majority of conflicts in favor of the media. This is not because the First Amendment bars the imposition of tort liability on the media for its newsgathering practices. It does not. Rather, tort law has failed to seize the opportunity to create meaninful privacy protection. After surveying the economic, philosophical, and practical obstacles to reform, this Article proposes to rejuvenate the tort of intrusion to tip the balance between privacy and the press back in privacy's direction. Working within the framework …

New Criticisms Of The Libel-Proof Plaintiff Doctrine , Wayne M. Serra

Cleveland State Law Review

This paper will explore the libel-proof plaintiff doctrine and examine it in light of traditional standing and jurisdictional principles. Part II of this paper discusses the origin of the libel-proof doctrine and its application. Part III explores the general requirements for diversity actions in the federal district courts, the application of state law to those actions, and the impact of the First Amendment on state libel law. Part IV discusses standing to sue principles and analyzes the libel-proof plaintiff doctrine in light of those principles. Part V discusses some criticisms of the libel-proof plaintiff doctrine. Finally, Part VI concludes that …

Lisa Herdahl And Religious Liberty , Nadine Strossen

Cleveland State Law Review

Introduction of the ACLU’s Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award honoree, detailing her specific struggle and outlining the larger national picture her case reflected.

The First Amendment, Children, The Internet, And America's Public Libraries, Fred H. Cate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Adult Uses And The First Amendment: The Stringfellow’S Decision And Its Impact On Municipal Control Of Adult Businesses, Steve Mcmillen

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

New York State Constitutional Law Trends And Developments: Introduction, Howard Glickstein, Barry Latzer

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Right Of Publicity: Cardtoons, L.C. V. Major League Baseball Players Association, Kym Carrier

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

What's In A Word? A Comparative Analysis Of Article I, § 12 Of The New York State Constitution And The Fourth Amendment To The United States Constitution As Interpreted By The New York Court Of Appeals And The United States Supreme Court, Douglas Holden Wigdor

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Will Tabloid Journalism Ruin The First Amendment For The Rest Of Us?, Rodney A. Smolla

Law Faculty Publications

Imagine that we set out to classify news organizations as falling into one of two Platonic "idealized forms," the "serious" journalists on the one hand, and the "tabloid" journalists on the other. In the pursuit of this happy exercise we might attempt to list the attributes that we tend to associate with each of these idealized forms. ...

The Legality Of The Religious Use Of Peyote By The Native American Church: A Commentary On The Free Exercise, Equal Protection, And Establishment Issues Raised By The Peyote Way Church Of God Case, John Thomas Bannon Jr.

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Status Of Constitutional Religious Liberty At The End Of The Millennium, Kurt T. Lash

Law Faculty Publications

I have the privilege of introducing the 1998 Bums Lecture Symposium- Religious Liberty in the Next Millennium: Should We Amend the Religion Clauses of the United States Constitution? My role in this Symposium is to acquaint you with the religion clauses of the Constitution- where they came from- where they've been- and where they seem to be today. Our Symposium contributors, Professors Kent Greenawalt and Robert George will discuss just where they think the religion clauses should go in the future.

Free Speech And Good Character, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

Early proponents of the freedom of speech such as John Milton, John Stuart Mill, and Louis Brandeis emphasized the role expressive liberty plays in strengthening the character of persons entrusted with such freedom. These theorists argued that character traits such as civic courage, independence of mind, and the capacity to learn from experience and adapt are nurtured by trusting citizens with dangerous ideas. Today there is much talk about good character in relation to free speech disputes-but all on the side of those who would regulate speakers. It is time to remember that a concern about character cuts both ways …

Holocaust Denial And The First Amendment: The Quest For Truth In A Free Society, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

From the ashes of the Holocaust we have come once again to learn the terrible truth, that the power of Evil cannot be underestimated. Nor can the effect of the spoken and written word. It has been but a half-century since the liberation of Nazi death camps, a little more than a decade since the First International Conference on the Holocaust and Human Rights, and a few short years since the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum first put on display its documentation of horror. Yet today that form of historical revisionism popularly called "Holocaust denial" abounds worldwide in all its …

The Role Of Religion In Public Life And Official Pressure To Participate In Alcoholics Anonymous, Paul E. Salamanca

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

If religion is an innate aspect of the human experience, it should not be surprising that Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a widely known and arguably religious support group for problem drinkers, has become a common and effective means of combating alcoholism. Also, it should not be surprising that probation officers, parole officers, judges, bar overseers, wardens, and myriad others exercising state authority routinely push individuals toward A.A. Arguably, however, official referral of problem drinkers to A.A. violates current interpretations of the Establishment Clause because of the quasi-religious nature of the program.

Although separationism helps both church and state, our Constitution does, …

Generally Applicable Laws And The First Amendment, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Section 1983 Litigation, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.