First Amendment Commons^™

Limiting A Constitutional Tort Without Probably Cause: First Amendment Retaliatory Arrest After Hartman, Colin P. Watson

Michigan Law Review

Federal law provides a cause of action for individuals who are the target of adverse state action taken in retaliation for their exercise of First Amendment rights. Because these constitutional torts are "easy to allege and hard to disprove," they raise difficult questions concerning the proper balance between allowing meaningful access to the courts and protecting government agents from frivolous and vexatious litigation. In its recent decision in Hartman v. Moore, the U.S. Supreme Court tipped the scales in favor of the state in one subset of First Amendment retaliation actions by holding that plaintiffs in actions for retaliatory …

On Communication, John Greenman

Michigan Law Review

Everybody knows that communication is important, but nobody knows how to define it. The best scholars refer to it. Free-speech law protects it. But no one-no scholar or judge-has successfully captured it. Few have even tried. This is the first article to define communication under the law. In it, I explain why some activities-music, abstract painting, and parading-are considered communicative under the First Amendment, while others-sex, drugs, and subliminal advertising-are not. I argue that the existing theories of communication, which hold that communicative behaviors are expressive or convey ideas, fail to explain what is going on in free-speech cases. Instead, …

Balancing Freedom Of Speech With The Right To Privacy: How To Legally Cope With The Funeral Protest Problem , Anna Zwierz Messar

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Human Rights In China And The Rule Of Law, Xu Wenli

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fcc Complaint Process And Increasing Public Unease: Toward An Apolitical Broadcast Indecency Regime, Kurt Hunt

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

[...]I propose depoliticizing the broadcast indecency regime by utilizing polling to determine the average broadcast viewer's opinion, divorced from all the pressures inherent in relying on the complaint process as a proxy. In section II, I will discuss the background and development of the broadcast indecency doctrine from the days of the Federal Radio Commission in the 1920s through the present day. I will also explain why the apparent increasing public unease is misleading, and why valid First Amendment concerns are steamrolled by the fiery nature of the debate. In section III, I will explain why the FCC's reliance on …

Virtual Worlds - Real Courts, Kevin W. Saunders

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Obscenity Prosecutions And The Bush Administration: The Inside Perspective Of The Adult Entertainment Industry & Defense Attorney Louis Sirkin, Robert D. Richards, Clay Calvert

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

2 Anti-Gay 1st Amendment Losses, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Bachelor Parties Beware: The Third Circuit Grapples With Alcohol, Strip Clubs And The Constitutionality Of Morality Legislation, Gregory S. Voshell

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Religion And Group Rights: Are Churches (Just) Like The Boy Scouts?, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

What role do religious communities, groups, and associations play - and, what role should they play - in our thinking and conversations about religious freedom and church-state relations? These and related questions - that is, questions about the rights and responsibilities of religious institutions - are timely, difficult, and important. And yet, they are often neglected.

It is not new to observe that American judicial decisions and public conversations about religious freedom tend to focus on matters of individuals' rights, beliefs, consciences, and practices. The special place, role, and freedoms of groups, associations, and institutions are often overlooked. However, if …

First Amendment Rights Behind Bars: To Deny A Prisoner Pornography, The Third Circuit In Ramirez V. Pugh Requires Proof Of Detriment To Rehabilitation, Victoria Ford

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Religion, Speech, And The Minnesota Constitution: State-Based Protections Amid First Amendment Instabilities, Steven P. Aggergaard

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Matters Of Public Concern Standard In Free Speech Cases, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

The public concern standard has operated primarily in two categories of free-speech cases: those involving speech by government employees and those involving defamation.

Out Of Thin Air: Using First Amendment Public Forum Analysis To Redeem American Broadcasting Regulation, Anthony E. Varona

Articles

American television and radio broadcasters are uniquely privileged among Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensees. Exalted as public trustees by the 1934 Communications Act, broadcasters pay virtually nothing for the use of their channels of public radiofrequency spectrum, unlike many other FCC licensees who have paid billions of dollars for similar digital spectrum. Congress envisioned a social contract of sorts between broadcast licensees and the communities they served. In exchange for their free licenses, broadcast stations were charged with providing a platform for a "free marketplace of ideas" that would cultivate a democratically engaged and enlightened citizenry through the broadcasting of …

Speech Of Government Employees, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

For many years, government employment was considered a privilege rather than a right, and, as a result, the government could place restrictions on employee speech that would be unconstitutional if applied to citizens.

"Gouging The Government": Why A Federal Contingency Fee Lobbying Prohibition Is Consistent With First Amendment Freedoms, Meredith A. Capps

Vanderbilt Law Review

Washington Post writer David Segal once observed, "[f]or most Americans the words 'Washington lobbyist' have roughly the same cachet as, say, 'deadbeat dad."" Both lawmakers and the public regard lobbying as an unsavory part of the political process. Much of this perception stems from the vast sums of money spent each year on lobbying activity. For example, in the first half of 2004 alone, mortgage funding companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported spending over $11 million on lobbying activities, General Electric spent $8.5 million, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $20.1 million-and these were only three of the …

To Surf And Protect: The Children's Internet Protection Act Policies Material Harmful To Minors And A Whole Lot More, Michael B. Cassidy

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Note will examine the constitutional issues raised by installing Internet filtering software in public libraries. Part I explores the First Amendment, the standard of review for restricting Internet material, and the government's role in protecting minors and regulating speech. Part II discusses library patrons' First Amendment rights in public libraries. Part III provides the statutory framework of the E-rate and LSTA programs, as well as the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Part IV examines the effectiveness of current Internet filtering technology and provides the American Library Association's policies on Internet filtering in public libraries. Part V discusses the district …

Petition For Writ Of Certiorari, Bellecourt, Et Al., V. City Of Cleveland, 544 U.S. 1033, 125 S. Ct. 2271 (2005), Kevin Francis O'Neill, Terry H. Gilbert

Law Faculty Briefs and Court Documents

Deciding an important question of Federal Free Speech law, the Ohio Supreme Court has recognized a fire safety justification so easy to invoke that it may be used to punish virtually every instance of flag burning and effigy burning - thereby undercutting this Court's decision in Texas v. Johnson, and creating a question of first impression that requires this Court's review and correction.

Private Attorneys General And The First Amendment, Trevor W. Morrison

Michigan Law Review

The "private attorney general" is under fire again. It has been in and out of favor in the six decades since it was named, in part because it has come to signify so many different things. At its core, however, the term denotes a plaintiff who sues to vindicate public interests not directly connected to any special stake of her own. The remedies sought in such actions tend to be correspondingly broad: rather than seeking redress for discrete injuries, private attorneys general typically request injunctive or other equitable relief aimed at altering the practices of large institutions. From school desegregation …

Content And Context: The Contributions Of William Van Alstyne To First Amendment Interpretation, Rodney A. Smolla

Scholarly Articles

Not available.

Dealing With Hate In The Feminist Classroom: Re-Thinking The Balance, Kathryn M. Stanchi

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The goals of this essay are two-fold. First, by describing the experience the author had in Law and Feminism, the essay will show how hateful and harassing speech in a seminar devoted to issues of gender, race and sexuality can rob students of important educational experiences. The story of the author’s class is meant to remind legal educators and administrators of the concrete harm, both personal and educational, of hate speech. Too often the hate speech debate focuses on the theoretical and the abstract; participants forget that the principles at stake have demonstrable consequences for real people. Second, while this …

Got Milk... Not Today: The Third Circuit Defends First Amendment Rights For Small Dairy Farmers, Jaret N. Gronczewski

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The Band From Hell: An Examinatioin Of Suicide On Stage As Expressive Conduct Under The First Amendment, Elizabeth Cameron

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Buttletproof Speech: Are Political Books Beyond Litigation's Reach, Emily Kirstine Wacker

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

City Of Littleton V. Z.J. Gifts D-4, L.L.C.: Are We Losing The First Amendment, Or Just Adult Businesses, Karen Cynn

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Ending Pay-To-Play In The Municipal Securities Business: Msrb Rule G-3 7 Ten Years Later, Kevin Opp

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

The New Censorship: Institutional Review Boards, Philip A. Hamburger

Faculty Scholarship

Do federal regulations on Institutional Review Boards violate the First Amendment? Do these regulations establish a new sort of censorship? And what does this reveal about the role of the Supreme Court?

The First Amendment's Original Sin, Lee C. Bollinger

Faculty Scholarship

Times of war place considerable stress on civil liberties, especially ones protected by the First Amendment. When the nation must gather itself to fight an enemy who is intent on killing us, it is perhaps only natural that our tolerance for the usual disorder of dissent will decline. When everyone has to sacrifice for the common good, when fellow citizens are dying in that cause, the costs of speech are visible and serious. Dissent may dissuade or discourage soldiers from fighting; sowing doubt may weaken resolve just when it's needed most; falsehoods and misinformation may lead to catastrophic shifts of …

A Moderate Defense Of Hate Speech Regulations On University Campuses, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The regulation of hate speech on public and private university campuses is a fiercely contested and divisive issue. Professor Bradley Wendel defends the middle ground in this debate. This Essay argues that concerns about abuses of power by those in positions of authority are unfounded when an institution possesses greater expertise in a domain than the citizens who are affected by the institution’s decision, provided that the institution is acting on the basis of reasons that are shared by the affected individual.

Free Speech And Children's Interests, David Archard

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Article endorses the conclusion of Etzioni's article that the First Amendment right of free speech should not trump the interests of children. However the picture is more complicated once we recognize that parents have a "basic" right to bring up their children as they see fit that may conflict with the state's duty to protect children in its jurisdiction.

Moreover there is an important difference between protecting children now from harms and safeguarding the interests of the adults they will grow into. Society has an interest in protecting children based upon its fundamental interest in ensuring the conditions of …