In his Brown v. Allen concurrence, Justice Robert Jackson famously said of the Supreme Court “We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.” The Supreme Court inevitably makes mistakes and reaches the wrong result in some non-trivial number of cases. Accordingly, for the past two years I have […]
Archive | First Amendment
Does the original meaning of the First Amendment protect a right of privacy in campaign contributions?
By David Kopel on October 21, 2013 10:55 pm in Anonymity, Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Originalism, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
My Independence Institute colleague Rob Natelson examines the question from an originalist perspective, in a new working paper published on SSRN. His analysis is summarized in this blog post on his website. In brief: political contributions are best analyzed as a form of Freedom of the Press. The Freedom of the Press includes the right […]
Priest Sues DoD Over Shutdown
A Catholic priest and a religious military veteran are suing the Department of Defense over the federal government shutdown, BLT reports. According to the complaint, they allege that the federal government has violated their First Amendment rights by preventing the priest from performing, and the veteran from receiving, religious services at military facilities due to […]
Harris v. Quinn and the Future of Abood
In response to my post about today’s orders list, I’ve heard the suggestion that Harris v. Quinn is a “sleeper” case in which the Court might overrule or dramatically limit its prior precedent in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. Abood was a First Amendment/employment decision that says basically that public employers can require all […]
The New York Times Loves Arguendo
By Nick Rosenkranz on September 25, 2013 9:32 am in Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
A few weeks ago, I posted about Arguendo, a new show by Elevator Repair Service Theater (ERS), which opened last night at the Public Theater in New York City. Arguendo is a sort of topsy-turvy dramatization of the oral argument in Barnes v. Glen Theatre, an important Supreme Court case about nude dancing and the […]
Corsi’s Life of Political Crime
By Jonathan H. Adler on September 8, 2013 11:30 am in Election Law, First Amendment, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
If you want to get together with friends to talk about politics, hear speakers on policy issues, and perhaps create a website promoting policy ideas, do you need to register as a political actin committee even if you don’t endorse candidates or get involved in elections? In Ohio the answer can be “yes,” as Ed […]
Former Solicitor General Seth Waxman to Participate in Elevator Repair Service Theater Benefit
By Nick Rosenkranz on September 5, 2013 12:26 am in Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
Last week, I posted about the excellent avant-garde theatre company Elevator Repair Service and the upcoming world-premiere of their new show, Arguendo, at the Public Theater in New York City. Arguendo is a dramatization of the oral argument of Barnes v. Glen Theatre, an important Supreme Court case about nude dancing and the First Amendment. […]
Elevator Repair Service Theater: Arguendo
By Nick Rosenkranz on August 27, 2013 8:05 pm in Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
Acclaimed avant-garde theatre company Elevator Repair Service (ERS) will soon present the world-premiere of their new show, Arguendo, at the Public Theater in New York City. Arguendo is a dramatization of the oral argument of Barnes v. Glen Theatre, an important Supreme Court case about nude dancing and the First Amendment. ERS has a following […]
Return of the People’s Rights Amendment
By Ilya Somin on June 20, 2013 3:41 am in Constitutional Amendments, Constitutional Theory, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
The Tester-Murphy Amendment, which Eugene Volokh criticizes here. appears to be virtually identical to last year’s People’s Rights Amendment. I outlined some of the dangers posed by the PRA in this post.
Must Public Schools Collect Dues for Public School Employee Unions?
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided an interesting case concerning the collection of union dues for public school employees in Michigan. In Bailey v. Callaghan, a divided panel upheld Michigan’s Public Act 53 which provides: ““A public school employer’s use of public school resources to assist a labor organization […]
“A Bad Time for Press Freedoms”
The Columbia Journalism Review has an interesting interview with James Goodale, former general counsel and vice chairman of The New York Times and author of the forthcoming book Fighting for the Press. Goodale is very critical of the current Administration’s hostility to press freedoms — “Worse than Nixon” — and the relative lack of critical […]
That Troublesome First Amendment, Michigan Edition
On January 18, 2013, the Circuit Court in Wayne County preliminarily approved a settlement in a class action charging that McDonald’s had sold non-“halal” Chicken Mcnuggets that had been advertised as “halal.” A local activist named Majed Moughni was unhappy with the settlement terms (which required McDonalds to pay some money to two local Dearborn […]
May Plaintiff Cut off a Poor Defendant’s Appeal, by Having the Sheriff Sell off Defendant’s Right to Appeal?
That is the question I’m facing with the latest twist in Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox, a pro bono First Amendment case that I’m litigating before the Ninth Circuit. For more on the substantive First Amendment issue, see the materials collected here. But this twist is all about procedure (as so many legal questions […]
Citizens United and the Fall of the Roman Republic
By Ilya Somin on November 27, 2012 7:49 pm in Election Law, Elections, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
In a recent Slate article, Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni claim that the history of the fall of the Roman Republic strengthens the case against the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, which ruled that the First Amendment protects corporate and union political speech against restriction by government. The influence of money in politics, they […]
Final Thoughts: Changing the Culture on Campus
By Greg Lukianoff, guest-blogging on November 2, 2012 6:50 pm in First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
This week I survived Hurricane Sandy, a massive tree covering the entire front of my house, an intermittent Internet connection, and even guest-blogging for The Volokh Conspiracy. For my last post, I wanted to end on a positive note. First, I wanted to let you all know that I am having a book event for […]