Category: First Amendment
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Protecting the First Amendment in Stopping Cop City: Unconstitutional Overbreadth in Georgia’s RICO Laws
By James Swinehart — In March 2021, then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms alongside the Atlanta Police Foundation announced plans to build the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center—a massive $90 million police training facility boasting shooting ranges, explosives testing grounds, and a mock city for urban warfare training, bestowing the project with its popular nickname, “Cop…
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Social Media Platforms as Publishers: Evaluating the First Amendment Basis for Content Moderation
By Jimmy Fraley — In recent years, many Republican politicians have become increasingly vocal about the content censorship imposed by social media companies. These Republicans are concerned that social media companies have taken actions to censor conservative speech and have engaged in a type of viewpoint policing. This concern has turned into action, with Jim…
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A Plea to Act in Good Faith: How Two State Laws Challenge Social Media Platforms’ Editorial Practices
By Tori Tinsley — Recent controversy surrounding the constitutionality of two state laws regulating social media platforms reveals that modern technology is presenting unprecedented challenges for the legal system. Two laws passed in Texas and Florida in 2021, HB 20 and SB 7072 have raised questions about whether states can make laws that regulate social…
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The Legality of Tattoo Discrimination in Employment
By Leyuan Ma — In recent years, tattoos have become increasingly popular as a form of body art in the United States. According to a 2019 survey, 30% of Americans have at least one tattoo, an increase from 21% in 2012. However, even as tattoos are now recognized as part of mainstream culture, many people…
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A Look Back at Washington State’s Senate Bill (SB) 5843: Constitutional or Not?
By Alexandra Orbuch — Introduced by the Washington State legislature in January 2022, Senate Bill (SB) 5843 attempted to criminalize statements made by elected officials or candidates that: (a) Are intended to incite or produce imminent lawless action and do incite or produce such action resulting in harm to a person or to property; (b)…
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When Two Worlds Collide: Evaluating Free Speech and National Security Claims around Trump’s WeChat Ban
By Nalin Ranjan — Immigrants have come a long way from hopelessly striving toward the 20th-century ideal of full assimilation into American society. Descendants of Jewish immigrants, whom many believed could not be trusted, can now proudly take credit for developments in the sciences, politics, medicine, and the arts; blossoming Chinatowns have replaced enclaves that…
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Making the Case for Trump’s January 6th Speech as Incitement
By Beck Reiferson — On January 12th, Alan Dershowitz, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Law School and one of the nation’s most prominent attorneys, published an op-ed in the publication Newsweek in which he argued against the second impeachment of President Donald Trump on constitutional grounds. He reasoned that Trump’s false statements about the legitimacy of…