First Amendment Commons^™

Newsroom: Logan On Trump And Libel Law 01-03-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Rwu First Amendment Blog: David Logan's Blog: Moguls And The Media 1-2-2017, David A. Logan, Roger Williams University

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Religious Freedom As A Technology Of Modern Secular Governance, Peter G. Danchin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Session On "Geoblocking Tools And The Law" At Law, Borders, And Speech Conference At Stanford Law School, Marketa Trimble

Boyd Briefs / Road Scholars

Professor Marketa Trimble appeared on a panel at the Law, Borders, and Speech Conference hosted by The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School on October 24, 2016. The session defined and discussed geoblocking and its implications for internet users, government, and private companies.

A video of the session is available here. Additionally, Professor Trimble's presentation is available here.

Jess Smith And The Design Firm, Gabriel Tenaglia

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

No abstract provided.

Dissonance Between Personal Belief And Professional Values And The Challenge Of Facing Other Conflicting Ideas, Christopher Tan

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

It is the recommendation of this author that, in regards to this case, Jess Smith should complete the project despite her misgivings about the ethical nature of the band. However, Smith should ensure that both the client and manager are notified of her concerns along with the specific components of the project with which she took issue. The case of Jess Smith and the Design Firm ultimately highlights the issue regarding how to resolve dissonance between personal belief and professional values and more broadly the challenge of facing other ideas that challenge an individual’s personal convictions.

Enemy Construction And The Press, Ronnell Anderson Jones, Lisa Grow Sun

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

When the president of the United States declared recently that the press is “the enemy,” it set off a firestorm of criticism from defenders of the institutional media and champions of the press’s role in the democracy. But even these Trump critics have mostly failed to appreciate the wider ramifications of the president’s narrative choice. Our earlier work describes the process of governmental “enemy construction,” by which officials use war rhetoric and other signaling behaviors to convey that a person or institution is not merely an institution that, although wholly legitimate, has engaged in behaviors that are disappointing or disapproved, …

Public Employee Speech: Answering The Unanswered And Related Questions In Lane V. Franks, John E. Rumel

Articles

No abstract provided.

Ohio State Journal Of Dispute Resolution Symposium: A Memorial To Chris Fairman, Roberto L. Corrada

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

I wanted to thank a few people for inviting me here and allowing me to pay homage to my old friend Chris Fairman and to strike a personal note of opening to this symposium. First, thanks to Garry Jenkins, now the Dean at Minnesota, for reaching out to me after we saw each other last year at Chris's memorial service in Austin. I would also like to thank Professor Sarah Rudolph Cole for reaching out to the broader community immediately after Chris's passing away. Finally, I'd like to thank the students of the JDR for pulling this symposium together and …

You Can't Sit With Us: Limiting Free Speech In Sports Arenas And How The Tampa Bay Lightning Took Home Ice Advantage Too Far, Kaitlin Shire

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Political Insider Trading, Michael R. Siebecker

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Should the same legal principles that prohibit insider trading require corporations to disclose their political spending as well? The question seems particularly important in light of the increasing dominance of corporations in the political realm, the lack of transparency regarding corporate political activity, and the inherently suspicious motives of corporate executives who use corporate treasuries to advance their personal political preferences. This Article examines how the fiduciary principles of trust that underpin prohibitions on insider trading could inform and enhance the content of the general fiduciary duties that corporate officers and directors owe to their shareholders. Although insider trading prohibitions …

"Free Speech, First Amendment, And New Media For Cons And Festivals" From Pop Culture Business Handbook For Cons And Festivals, Jon Garon

Faculty Scholarship

This article is part of a series of book excerpts from The Pop Culture Business Handbook for Cons and Festivals, which provides the business, strategy, and legal reference guide for fan conventions, film festivals, musical festivals, and cultural events.Although most events are organized by private parties, the location of these events in public venues and the crowd management issues involving free speech make First Amendment and free speech issues a critical component of event management. This excerpt provides a framework for understanding the legal and security issues involving free speech at public events.

Blog: Without Rhyme Or Reason, Meikhel M. Philogene

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Rule Of Law, Activism And Equality: Growing Antisubordination Norms Within The University, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 249 (2017), Peter Halewood, Donna Young

UIC Law Review

This article examines this recent surge of student activism to determine how it fits within larger social movements and to evaluate how receptive courts and legislatures may be to some of the claims raised by the protests. Significant changes in civil rights laws have often been driven by significant shifts in societal perceptions of and engagement with social justice issues. And importantly, social movements have often fostered the political pressure necessary for social, legal, and political reform. There is the potential for these protests to influence courts and legislatures and shape their interpretations of legal rules in ways that recognize …

Principles Limiting Recovery Against Undercover Investigators In Ag-Gag States: Law, Policy And Logic, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 649 (2017), Sarah Hanneken

UIC Law Review

This Comment explores the history and purpose of ag-gag legislation as well as its constitutional shortcomings, particularly with regard to damages. Using North Carolina’s recent ag-gag efforts to silence whistleblowers as an effective case study, this Comment explains how free-speech protections, public policy, and causation principles all limit the monetary damages recoverable against undercover investigators. It begins in Part II with a history of undercover investigations and their role in confronting systemic exploitation within various industries. It then describes how these industries have responded to the unwanted attention by turning to the courts and legislatures for redress. It is in …

Beyond The First Amendment: What The Evolution Of Maryland's Constitutional Free-Speech Guarantee Shows About Its Intended Breadth, Anthony W. Kraus

University of Baltimore Law Forum

Most Maryland lawyers are vaguely aware that Maryland's Declaration of Rights contains its own guarantee of free speech that is worded differently from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. What the Declaration of Rights actually says about free speech, however, and what can be inferred from its distinctive phrasing and legislative history, are not matters that have received much particularized attention. Decisions of Maryland's courts routinely state that Article 40 of the Declaration of Rights - the principal source of state free-speech rights - is construed in pari materia with the First Amendment, which, as a practical matter, …

The Institutional Case For Partisan Gerrymandering Claims, G. Michael Parsons

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

For voters hoping the Supreme Court’s 2017 Term brings relief from partisan gerrymandering, the end of the 2016 Term was inauspicious. In Cooper v. Harris, the majority assumed the legitimacy of “partisan advantage” arguments while the dissent—including Justice Kennedy—warned about the “serious institutional and federalism implications” of judicial intervention in the redistricting process. If past is prologue, this concern for institutional and structural interests does not bode well.

Domestic Violence Law, Abusers’ Intent, And Social Media: How Transaction-Bound Statutes Are The True Threats To Prosecuting Perpetrators Of Gender-Based Violence, Megan L. Bumb

Brooklyn Law Review

The rapid expansion of social media has brought with it a new platform for perpetrators of domestic violence to assert power and control over their victims. The statutes presently used to prosecute abusers fail to protect victims from social media threats and to punish abusers for making those threats. Using the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Elonis v. United States, this note proposes a straightforward solution to a multifaceted problem—how to better protect victims of domestic violence from social media threats while maintaining abusers’ First Amendment rights. The answer is not mere clarification of the true threat doctrine; it is …

Fueling The Terrorist Fires With The First Amendment: Religious Freedom, The Anti-Lgbt Right, And Interest Convergence Theory, Kyle C. Velte

Brooklyn Law Review

This article argues that there is a connection between formal equality for LGBT Americans and the United States’ foreign policy and national security interests. It makes that connection utilizing Professor Derek Bell’s interest convergence paradigm. It argues that the new agenda of the American Religious Right is one that seeks to assert quasi-theocratic and anti-Establishment positions in litigation as well as in its promulgation of anti-LGBT laws. This agenda is cloaked in the garb of “religious freedom,” but the Religious Right’s definition of “religious freedom” is one that runs counter to our long-standing understanding of that principle as one that …

Denying Certiorari In Bell V. Itawamba County School Board: A Missed Opportunity To Clarify Students’ First Amendment Rights In The Digital Age, Elizabeth A. Shaver

Brooklyn Law Review

In the last decade, the federal circuit courts have grappled with the issue whether, and to what extent, school officials constitutionally may discipline students for their off-campus electronic speech. Before 2015, three federal circuit courts had extended school authority to off-campus electronic speech by applying a vague test that allows school officials to reach far beyond the iconic “schoolhouse gate” referenced in the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Two other federal circuits had avoided the issue altogether by deciding the cases before them on other grounds. In 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court …