This speech by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission discusses some of the issues facing the broadcasting industry concerning the First Amendment such as guidelines for the percentage of adult informational programing, the Fairness Doctrine, government censorship, regulation of news programs, and access of the electorate to…

This paper gives an overview of the legal environment of advertising as it is influenced by the Supreme Court and by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and provides some clues as to what advertisers might expect in that environment in the future. Using a thematic approach to examine the current FTC and judicial system views of advertising as a…

The United States Supreme Court's ruling in the "Houchins v KQED" case exemplifies the confusion of that court concerning any consistent view of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, especially in terms of newsgathering and prior restraint. In this case, the Court reversed a lower court's decision that had held invalid a…

Teaching freedom of speech to undergraduates is a difficult task, in part as a result of the challenging history of free expression in the United States. The difficulty is compounded by the need to teach the topic, in contrast to indoctrinating the students in an ideology of free speech. The Bill of Rights, and specifically the First Amendment,…

The Bill of Rights contains a set of simple statements about the rights which citizens may claim in disputes with the government. Those who suggest that the First Amendment has always represented a strong commitment to free speech ignore the historical lesson offered by the Sedition Act of 1798. The early American republic maintained careful…

Noting that seldom in American history has a president had the potential opportunity to appoint a majority to the Supreme Court as does Ronald Reagan and that scholars and columnists claim that First Amendment freedoms of the press have been eroding with little public notice over the past few years, this paper explores the prognosis for press…

In press law, the individual right of freedom of the press frequently is linked to a public interest or "watchdog" concept of freedom of the press. This concept suggests that the basis for the constitutional protection of press freedom is the role of the press as an institution serving a collective good, as opposed to the traditional…

This comparative analysis of the constitutional status of freedom of speech in Great Britain and the United States focuses on four speech-related offenses--seditious libel, defamatory libel, blasphemous libel, and group libel or incitment to racial hatred. The analysis concentrates on the profound and rapid changes that issues related to freedom…

United States immigration statutes and administration policy are not in line with the standards of due process as guaranteed by the Constitution. In addition, reform of these statutes has lagged far behind advances made in other areas of civil rights. (Author/EB)

This paper examines the practice of search and seizure from a legal perspective. All issues concerning lawful or unlawful search and seizure, whether in a public school or otherwise, are predicated upon the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The terms "search,""seizure,""probable…

In many western countries, corporal punishment has been abolished as a form of punishment in criminal trials and in schools. Under South African common law, persons entitled to enforce discipline may inflict corporal punishment within certain guidelines established by the Supreme Court. For the first time in the Republic of South Africa (RSA), the…

Legal issues in public use of educational facilities and property are examined in this paper, which focuses on the balance between government authority and individual rights of association and expression protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The Supreme Court's use of forum analysis to determine whether the government's interest in…

In the United States, the Bill of Rights is most often thought of as the charter that establishes individual rights in categories such as "freedom of expression" and "rights of the accused." In this essay it is argued that this conception of the Bill of Rights, while perhaps acceptable for constitutional law, does not provide…

Because of the United States Court of Appeal's ruling ("Quincy Cable TV vs. Federal Communications Commission") that government regulation of what cable television stations can broadcast violates their First Amendment rights, a number of consequences have arisen concerning what cable stations are required to broadcast (must-carry rules),…

Since the 1974 Supreme Court dicta in "Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.," many courts have held that statement of opinion is constitutionally protected. However, statements that appear to be opinion based on undisclosed facts or knowledge not generally known to the public can be an exception. For instance, courts have protected specific…