First Amendment Commons^™

Amending The Massachusetts Parental Notification Statute, Yuval Simchi-Levi

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that the Massachusetts Parental Notification Statute, enacted in 1996, should be amended to explicitly permit public schools to teach about sexual orientation in the context of promoting tolerance without requiring parental notification. The statute's ambiguity regarding whether such discussions fall under "human sexual education or human sexuality issues" has led to hesitation among schools and legal challenges. The author contends that clarifying the statute would align it with Massachusetts' commitment to diversity and tolerance, as reflected in court rulings like Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.

The Possibility Of A Secular First Amendment, Chad Flanders

All Faculty Scholarship

In a series of articles and now in their new book, Religious Freedom and the Constitution, Lawrence Sager and Christopher Eisgruber (E&S) defend an interpretation of the religion clauses of the First Amendment which, they write, "denies that religion is a constitutional anomaly, a category of human experience that demands special benefits and/or necessitates special restrictions." While not a book review in the traditional sense, my essay takes E&S's defense of a secular First Amendment as a starting point and asks, how did we get to the point where an interpretation of the First Amendment which denies that religion is …

Reconsidering Gobitis: An Exercise In Presidential Leadership, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

In June of 1940, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Minersville School District v. Gobitis that the First Amendment posed no barrier to the punishment of two school age Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to pay homage to the American flag. Three years later, the Justices reversed themselves in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. This sudden change has prompted a host of explanations. Some observers have stressed changes in judicial personnel in the intervening years; others have pointed to the wax and wane of general anxieties over the war; still others have emphasized the sympathy-inspiring acts of …

First Amendment Decisions From The October 2006 Term, Erwin Chemerinsky, Marci A. Hamilton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Privacy And Funeral Protests, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

This article examines the free speech implications of funeral protest statutes. Enacted in response to the Westboro Baptist Church, whose members protest at funerals to spread their antigay message, such statutes restrict a broad array of peaceful expressive activity. This Article focuses on the states’ interest underlying these statutes - protecting mourners’ right to be free from unwanted intrusions while at funeral services. Few would argue against protecting funeral services from intrusive protests. These statutes, however, go far beyond that notion and protect mourners from offensive, rather than intrusive, protests. As such, they do not conceive of privacy as protection …

"Excluding Religion": A Response, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

In a thorough and thoughtful article, Excluding Religion, Prof. Nelson Tebbe asks "whether the government may select religious entities for exclusion from its support programs?" and concludes that, sometimes, it may. "The government," he contends, "need not remain neutral toward religion in its support programs[.]"

In this short response to Tebbe's paper, I first suggest that the reasons Tebbe offers for such exclusion - including "promoting equal citizenship for members of minority faiths . . . , fostering community concord, [and] respecting taxpayers' freedom of conscience", are not particularly strong. Next, I turn to the various "limits" that Tebbe …

Children's Beliefs And Family Law, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

In a recent series of opinions authored by Justice Stevens, the Court has recognized that children may have independent religious rights, and that these may be in conflict with their parents'. The questions for this piece are whether considering children's rights independently is a good thing whether it is warranted by children's actual religious preferences and whether children's religious activities actually do anything measurable for the children.

I do not advocate that the Supreme Court become more involved with family law than it has been since the substantive due process days of Meyer and Pierce. I am also not one …

Do Churches Matter? Towards An Institutional Understanding Of The Religion Clauses, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

In recent years, several prominent scholars have called attention to the importance and role of First Amendment institutions and there is a growing body of work informed by an appreciation for what Professor Balkin calls the infrastructure of free expression. The freedom of expression, he suggests, requires more than mere absence of government censorship or prohibition to thrive; [it] also require[s] institutions, practices and technological structures that foster and promote [it]. The intuition animating this scholarship, then, is that the freedom of expression is not only enjoyed by and through, but also depends on the existence and flourishing of, certain …

Intellectual Privacy, Neil M. Richards

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article is about intellectual privacy–the protection of records of our intellectual activities–and how legal protection of these records is essential to the First Amendment values of free thought and expression. We often think of privacy rules being in tension with the First Amendment, but protection of intellectual privacy is different. Intellectual privacy is vital to a robust culture of free expression, as it safeguards the integrity of our intellectual activities by shielding them from the unwanted gaze or interference of others. If we want to have something interesting to say in public, we need to pay attention to the …

Whither The Pickering Rights Of Federal Employees?, Paul M. Secunda

University of Colorado Law Review

As a result of the Supreme Court's 1983 decision in Bush v. Lucas, federal employees are not permitted to bring Bivens constitutional tort claims directly to federal court to vindicate their First Amendment rights to free speech under Pickering v. Board of Education. Instead, the Bush Court found that Congress had established an effective, alternative statutory scheme for vindication of such claims under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. This places federal employees in a less favorable predicament than their state and local employee counterparts who are able to directly proceed to court on their First Amendment retaliation claims …

Creating Masculine Identities: Bullying And Harassment "Because Of Sex", Ann C. Mcginley

University of Colorado Law Review

This Article deals with group harassment of women and men in the workplace under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, the Supreme Court held that Title VII forbids harassment by members of the same sex, but it also emphasized that Title VII is implicated only if the harassment occurs "because of sex." Oncale's "because of sex" requirement has spawned considerable confusion in same-sex and different sex harassment cases. This Article focuses on four fact patterns that confuse courts, scholars, and employment lawyers. In the first scenario, men harass women in traditionally male …

Introduction To The 2007 Byu Law Review Symposium: Warning! Kids Online: Pornography, Free Speech, And Technology, Cheryl B. Preston

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Free Trade In Ideas Is (Or Ought To Be) Absolute For Adults, Patrick M. Garry

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New First Amendment Model For Evaluating Content-Based Regulation Ofinternet Pornography: Revising The Strict Scrutiny Model To Better Reflect The Realities Of The Modern Media Age, Mark S. Kende

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Www.Sam·S_Stationery_And_Luncheonette.Com: Bringing Ginsberg V. New York Into The Internet Age, John Fee

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Obscenity And The World Wide Web, John E. Fee

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sold Downstream: Free Speech, Fair Use, And Anti-Circumvention Law, R. Terry Parker

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Here’s a hypo. Living in Asia, I purchased a shameful amount of music and movies, all legit purchases through reputable stores, HMV and Tower Records, but little of which will get reissued. I wanted to preserve my collection but software in the discs prevented me from ripping backup copies to my computer. Lacking the technological savvy to get around this software myself, I purchased and used a product to help me circumvent these controls. Discuss.

Courts agree that copying the music and movies here is infringement but that fair use may provide a defense. However, courts do not agree …

Garcetti V. Ceballos: Stifling The First Amendment In The Public Workplace, Julie A. Wenell

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Medium-Specific Regulation Of Attorney Advertising: A Critique, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, Tera Jckowski Peterson

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article conducts an in-depth analysis of Florida's new and proposed attorney advertising rules and demonstrates that they are not only unconstitutional, but also fail to serve consumers' needs for legal services. The Article first provides the background necessary to assess the constitutionality of the rules and then addresses point-by-point their many constitutional flaws, both procedural and substantive. Additionally, this Article shows that Florida's new medium-specific regulations are flawed in their conception.

Expansion Of Indecency Regulation: Presented By The Federalist Society's Telecommunications Practice Group, Kevin J. Martin, Adam G. Ciongoli, Robert W. Peters, Roger Pilon, David B. Sentelle

Federal Communications Law Journal

This is a transcript of the November 10, 2005, panel discussion at the National Lawyer's Convention presented by the Federalist Society's Telecommunications Practice Group. The panelists debate and discuss the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") regulation of indecent content.

Space, The Final Frontier-Expanding Fcc Regulation Of Indecent Content Onto Direct Broadcast Satellite, John C. Quale, Malcolm J. Tuesley

Federal Communications Law Journal

The vast majority of viewers today receive video programming from multichannel video programming providers-mostly cable television or direct broadcast satellite ("DBS")-rather than directly over-the-air from broadcast stations. While the FCC has not hesitated to sanction broadcasters for what it deems to be indecent content, it consistently has found that it lacks the authority to regulate indecency on subscription services like cable television. Citizens groups and some in Congress now seek to extend indecency restrictions to DBS services under existing law or through the enactment of new legislation. It is true that DBS, because of its use of radio spectrum to …

In The Dark: A Consumer Perspective On Fcc Broadcast Indecency Denials, Genelle I. Belmas, Gail D. Love, Brian C. Foy

Federal Communications Law Journal

Indecency regulation has been a hot political and social topic since Janet Jackson revealed her breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The number of indecency complaints the FCC receives each year continues to rise. Moreover, to further complicate matters, in 2007 the Second Circuit overturned the FCC policy that so-called "fleeting expletives" would be considered indecent. However, there has been no systematic review of the complaints from the perspective of the complainant. How has the FCC managed its increasing indecency complaint load, and what does it tell consumers who have taken the time to write formal complaints about …

Defending Truth: Legal And Psychological Aspects Of Holocaust Denial, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

From the still-burning embers of the Holocaust we have come once again to learn the terrible truth, that the power of Evil still lurks among the nations of the world, and cannot be underestimated. Nor can the effect of the spoken and written word, which in modern times must be taken in tandem with the violence of terrorism. Part I describes the background and nature of Holocaust denial, tracing the Nazis' adoption of a plan for the A "Final Solution of the Jewish Problem" through the post-War Nuremberg Trials to the present day. Part II examines the tension between free …

The First Amendment Right To Silence, Robert A. Sedler

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Federal Campaign Finance Reform Based On Virginia Election Law, Rhodes B. Ritenour

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keep Out Of Myspace!: Protecting Students From Unconstitutional Suspensions And Expulsions, Christi Cassel

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Funerals And Free Speech, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

A Rush To Condemn, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

When Accommodations For Religion Violate The Establishment Clause: Regularizing The Supreme Court's Analysis, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

This article sets forth five rules with respect to what government may do to accommodate religious practice and five rules with respect to what government may not do. As it turns out the Supreme Court has said that most religious accommodations are left to the broad discretion of legislators and public officials. So long as the object of the accommodation is to protect or expand religious freedom, as distinct from expanding religion, the accommodation will be permitted.

Constitutional Law—Campaign Finance Law & The First Amendment—Can You See The Light?: Illuminating Precedent And Creating A New Tier Of Judicial Scrutiny For Campaign Finance Laws. Randall V. Sorrell, 126 S. Ct. 2479 (2006)., Christopher A. Mcnulty

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.