In the post below, I argue that the freedom of the press was originally and traditionally understood as protecting all users of the printing press as technology (and now its technological heirs), not the press as an industry or profession. One common response, which I’ve seen in many recent comments, is that this would make […]
Author Archive | Eugene Volokh
Freedom for the Press — Protection for an Industry/Profession, or for All Users of a Technology?
Since the issue has come up again in recent comments, I thought I’d repost the introduction to my article, Freedom for the Press as an Industry, or for the Press as a Technology? From the Framing to Today, 160 U. Penn. L. Rev. 459 (2011); the entire article is available in its full PDF form […]
Advances in Interspecies Communications
Headline seen on a newspaper story in Lexis/Nexis: PENGUINS CALL UP GIBBONS I take it that this is the print headline; the online headline for the story is different.
“Reconsidering Citizens United as a Press Clause Case”
An excellent new Yale Law Journal article by Stanford Prof. Michael McConnell. The abstract: The central flaw in the analysis of Citizens United by both the majority and the dissent was to treat it as a free speech case rather than a free press case. The right of a group to write and disseminate a […]
Earwigging
Several related Mississippi legal rules prohibit “earwigging.” Without looking it up, can you tell what it means? Note that no other states even mention “earwig” or its forms in their statutes, even though there’s nothing Mississippi-specific about that behavior. Also, only six cases accessible in Westlaw mention the term (setting aside those mentioning either insects […]
Who Qualifies as “Media” for Purposes of Texas Law Governing Appeals?
I wanted to pass along another brief the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic submitted last week. This one is on behalf of the bloggers at SCOTUSblog, the Supreme Court of Texas Blog, How Appealing, InstaPundit, and Power Line (3/4 of the bloggers there), in SEIU v. Professional Janitorial Service, Inc. (Tex. Sup. Ct.) (the […]
Theftuous
Just ran across this unusual bit of legalese, which I thought I’d pass along, mostly for its funny sound. It means just what you think it means.
Has the Constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms Outlived Its Usefulness?
I’m on a train to New York from the Federalist Society conference in D.C., headed to do a debate on this subject organized by Intelligence2 Debates. The debaters will be Sandy Levinson and Alan Dershowitz against Dave Kopel and me, and a live video stream will be available starting 6:45 Eastern tonight at this site, […]
Google Books’ Scanning and Snippet Display of Books Is Fair Use, and Thus Not Copyright Infringement
By Eugene Volokh on November 14, 2013 1:54 pm in Copyright, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Gather Information
So holds Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc. (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 14, 2013). I’m still on the road, and thus can’t blog about the opinion in detail, but I’ve read it and I think its fair use finding is quite right. Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer. UPDATE: Matthew Sag has a summary of the […]
Tarek Mehanna Conviction for Aiding al Qaeda Upheld
I’m on the road right now, and won’t have the time to blog further about this, but I suspect that some of our readers have followed the case — especially given the defendant’s First Amendment arguments — so I thought I’d note today’s First Circuit opinion. (Note that the title of the post is an […]
Did The Dark Knight Rises Infringe a Trademark When Catwoman Was Offered a Program Called “Clean Slate”?
Here’s one more brief that the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic submitted last week. This one is on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in Fortres Grand Corp. v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (7th Cir.) (the link is to the decision that is being appealed), and my students Nathan Davis, Sara Liss, and Paulette […]
Campus Videorecording and Bans on “Harassment” and “Intimidation”
By Eugene Volokh on November 12, 2013 12:23 am in Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities, Freedom to Gather Information
As the previous post noted, I’m passing along another brief that the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic has filed in the last few weeks. This one is on behalf of the Student Press Law Center and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, in O’Brien v. Welty (9th Cir.) (the link is to the […]
Amicus Brief in Religious Exemption Case
I thought I’d pass along two briefs that the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic has filed in the last few weeks. One, on behalf of the Becket Fund, is in Overall v. Ascension Health (E.D. Mich.). My students Nate Barrett, Garry Padrta, and Paulette Rodriguez-Lopez worked on the brief, and Daniel P. Dalton of […]
It’s Suparman!
The Batman bin Suparman story, from Prof. Ben Zimmer (Slate‘s Lexicon Valley).
Gonzaga Students Facing Expulsion for Legally Possessing Guns in Private University-Owned Apartments
An interesting story from the Gonzaga Bulletin: Roommates Erik Fagan and Dan McIntosh, both seniors, may be expelled this week after they used McIntosh’s pistol to repel a late-night trespasser from the doorway of their 207 E. Sinto Ave. apartment. Fagan answered a 10:15 p.m. knock on their front door Thursday, Oct. 24. A friend […]