First Amendment Commons^™

American Atheists, Inc. V. Davenport: Endorsing A Presumption Of Unconstitutionality Against Potentially Religious Symbols, Eric B. Ashcrof

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Digitally Unknown: Why The Ninth Circuit Should Wish To Remain Anonymous In In Re Anonymous Online Speakers, Brandon T. Crowther

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Eliminating The Subjective Intent Requirement For True Threats In United States V. Bagdasarian, Jake Romney

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining Fraud As An Unprotected Category Of Speech: Why The Ninth Circuit Should Have Upheld The Stolen Valor Act In United States V. Alvarez, Natali Wyson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Saving Their Own Souls: How Rluipa Failed To Deliver On Its Promises, Sarah Gerwig-Moore

Legislation and Policy Brief

In the summer of 2001, as a graduate student in law and theology, I began work on a master’s thesis that examined the predicament of men of faith on San Quentin’s Condemned Row. I was working in the California Appellate Project—mostly assisting with direct appeals and state habeas petitions on behalf of men under a death sentence—when a colleague guided me into theological conversations with some of our clients. On Condemned Row, they waited—up to five years to be assigned a court-appointed appellate attorney, on judges’ rulings, and to find whether the legal system would ultimately exact the penalty it …

Freedom Of Speech Through The Looking Glass: Reflections On The Governance Of Political Discourse In China, The United States, And The European Union, Emily Alice Chesbrough

Scripps Senior Theses

Freedom of speech is a right guaranteed by the US, the EU, and China; however, just because a right is guaranteed does not mean the government cannot manipulate the right to achieve its ends. Freedom of speech is commonly associated with the power of language; citizens speak in order to take control of those governing them, in order to assert their desires. In reality, freedom of speech is far more beneficial for governments, who can use this dissent to better control a population. In order to control the population, though, the governments must first control the dissenting speech, the discourse, …

Bartnicki V. Vopper: Another Media Victory Or Ominous Warning Of A Potential Change In Supreme Court First Amendment Jurisprudence?, Jennifer Nichole Hunt

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conflicting Images Of Children In First Amendment Jurisprudence, David L. Tubbs

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Faith-Based Initiative Proponents Beware: The Key In Zelman Is Not Just Neutrality, But Private Choice, Aaron Cain

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ashcroft V. Free Speech Coalition: How Can Virtual Child Pornography Be Banned Under The First Amendment?, Virginia F. Milstead

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dueling Values: The Clash Of Cyber Suicide Speech And The First Amendment, Thea E. Potanos

Chicago-Kent Law Review

On March 15, 2011, William Melchert-Dinkel, a Minnesota nurse, was convicted of two counts of assisted suicide, based solely on things he said in emails and online chat rooms. This note examines whether cyber speech encouraging suicide, such as Melchert-Dinkel's, should be protected by the First Amendment. States have compelling interests in preserving life, preventing suicide, and protecting vulnerable persons from abuse, and the majority of them have assisted suicide statutes that could be applied to cyber-suicide speech. However, because cyber- suicide speech does not fit neatly into recognized categories of "low-value" or unprotected speech, punishment may be foreclosed by …

Big Censorship In The Big House—A Quarter-Century After Turner V. Safley: Muting Movies, Music & Books Behind Bars, Clay Calvert, Kara Carnley Murrhee

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Turner v. Safley, this Article examines how federal courts across the country are applying the Turner standard today in cases involving the First Amendment free speech rights of inmates. Are courts too quick today to support the censorial proclivities of prison officials? Do judges too readily capitulate in deference to the concerns of those tasked with overseeing the incarcerated? Those are the key questions this Article addresses by analyzing inmate access to magazines, movies, books, and other common forms of media artifacts. This Article’s determinations stem from …

Towards A Balanced Approach For The Protection Of Native American Sacred Sites, Alex Tallchief Skibine

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Protection of "sacred sites" is very important to Native American religious practitioners because it is intrinsically tied to the survival of their cultures, and therefore to their survival as distinct peoples. The Supreme Court in Oregon v. Smith held that rational basis review, and not strict scrutiny, was the appropriate level of judicial review when evaluating the constitutionality of neutral laws of general applicability even when these laws impacted one's ability to practice a religion. Reacting to the decision, Congress enacted the Relgious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which reinstated the strict scrutiny test for challenges to neutral laws of general …

A Proposal To Expand The Religious Services Exemption Under The Copyright Act, Kevin M. Lemley

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

This article focuses on the religious services exemption to the Copyright Act. The religious services exemption is one of many exemptions that permit certain types of use without first obtaining permission from the copyright owner, or proving fair use. This article argues that the religious services exemption should be expanded to cover any work used in the course of services as well as the recording, broadcast, and transmission of the services.

The first part of this article analyzes the existing religious services exemption under the Copyright Act to define the bounds that uses fall under the exemption. The article then …

Heroism, Valor, And Deceit: False Claims Of Military Awards And The First Amendment, Robert J. Juge Iii

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

Rick Duncan always wanted to serve his country. His military career started at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. As a Marine Corps Captain, he served with distinction as a Nuclear Missile Launch Officer. Serving at the Pentagon during the 9/11 attacks, he quickly volunteered for a combat tour in Iraq. While commanding a Marine Battalion in Fallujah, he was struck by a roadside bomb, which resulted in permanent brain trauma and cost him his finger, forcing him to return home. After receiving a Silver Star and a Purple Heart for his gallantry, he refused to give up. If …

Renewing The Chase: The First Amendment, Campaign Advertisements, And The Goal Of An Informed Citizenry, John Stewart Fleming

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Libel Doctrine For Nondefamatory Falsehoods Under The First Amendment, Nat Stern

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

How The Movies Became Speech, Samantha Barbas

Journal Articles

In its 1915 decision in Mutual Film v. Industrial Commission of Ohio, the Supreme Court held that motion pictures were, as a medium, unprotected by freedom of speech and press because they were mere “entertainment” and “spectacles” with a “capacity for evil.” Mutual legitimated an extensive regime of film censorship that existed until the 1950s. It was not until 1952, in Burstyn v. Wilson, that the Court declared motion pictures to be, like the traditional press, an important medium for the communication of ideas protected by the First Amendment. By the middle of the next decade, film censorship in the …

Tattoos, Tickets, And Other Tawdry Behavior: How Universities Use Federal Law To Hide Their Scandals, Mary Margaret Penrose

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Do Religious Tax Exemptions Entangle In Violation Of The Establishment Clause? The Constitutionality Of The Parsonage Allowance Exclusion And The Religious Exemptions Of The Individual Health Care Mandate And The Fica And Self-Employment Taxes, Edward A. Zelinsky

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.