1. First Amendment basics
a. Breaking down the clauses (establishment, exercise, free speech and press, right to assemble, right to
petition government on grievances.)
b. Are these guarantees absolute?
c. General rule: speech regulation must be content neutral
i. Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley
d. Unprotected speech forms:
i. Obscenity
ii. Defamation
iii. Speech that Incites
e. Regulation in broadcasts
i. FCC v. Pacifica, the Carlin 7 dirty words broadcast
1. Establishes the precedent that time, place and manner of indecent broadcasts can be
regulated
ii. FCC v. Fox, 2nd Supreme Court Case
1. Issues relate to the FCC regulations of nudity and fleeting expletives
2. 2nd Circuit ruled regulations unconstitutional for vagueness leading to inconsistent
application.
3. Ruling at Supreme Court:
iii. Miller v. California’s 3 part test for obscenity
iv. The challenge of applying Miller to online content.
v. NY v. Ferber
vi. Ginsberg v. NY
vii. Unsuccessful attempts to regulation of porn on the Internet to protect minors
1. Reno v. ACLU
a. Unconstitutional for vagueness (indecent ≠ obscenity)
2. Ashcroft v. ACLU
a. Unconstitutional not passing strict scrutiny
3. Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
a. Unconstitutionally overbroad and chilling.
viii. Constitutional regulation of porn on Net for minors
1. US. V. American Library Association (Multnomah case)
a. CIPA provided funding for library computers and Internet access but required those
libraries to use filters
i. Challenged by libraries as being an unconstitutional prior restraint that does
not meet strict scrutiny
1. What is a prior restraint?
2. What is strict scrutiny
ii. US S. Ct. found law constitutional under Rust using rational review (lower
burden, only that the measure is reasonable way; strict scrutiny is a tougher
standard)
2. Defamation
a. Required elements
i. Additional element for celebrities
b. Forms
i. Slander
ii. Libel
c. Four per se categories
i. What does per se change?
d. Defenses & exceptions
i. Opinion
ii. Is it a fact that can be verified?
1. Merely offensive Vogel v. Felice
iii. Hyperbole as seen in Hustler v. Falwell
iv. Libel-proof
e. Online defamation, examples
3. Speech that incites
a. Defining true threats and fighting words
b. Legal standard of unprotect inciteful speech
i. Old
ii. New
c. Examples