Section Newsletters

Articles on First Amendment

Summary of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022) By Cindy G. Buys Human and Civil Rights, May 2023 A summary and analysis of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 6-3 opinion that the government may not suppress an individual from engaging in personal religious observance.
Stifling Social Media Speech: Analyzing Government Employers’ Wide Discretion to Restrict Their Employees’ Speech Under Current Law By Colin N. Mummery Local Government Law, May 2021 A useful framework to analyze whether a government employee's speech on social media is protected by the First Amendment.
1 comment (Most recent May 27, 2021)
Janus v. AFSCME By Ron Langacker Human and Civil Rights, August 2018 The latest U.S. Supreme Court decision to “weaponize” the First Amendment is Janus v. American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, Council 31, in which the Court held that Illinois’ extraction of agency fees from nonconsenting public-sector employees violated the First Amendment.
Free speech trumps animal cruelty: First Amendment protection of “crush videos” in United States v. Stevens By Angela Donohoo Animal Law, June 2010 The U.S. Supreme Court determined that “[a] law may be invalidated as overbroad if a substantial number of its applications are unconstitutional, judged in relation to the statute’s plainly legitimate sweep.”
Facial invalidation in First Amendment cases-The end of an era? By Steven Helle Human and Civil Rights, February 2004 A 30-year era in Supreme Court jurisprudence regarding the First Amendment might be ending.

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