#first amendment law

[angrybabylawyer]

“Social value clauses are dangerous.  As anyone who has been online knows, there is plenty of protected speech that is valueless.”

- law school quotes

[angrybabylawyer]

“Congrats, Scalia.  You just mucked up all of First Amendment Law.  It wasn’t even that clear to begin with.”

-Shit Professors Say

[io-vivo-perlei]

I'm officially a graduate student

I’m officially a graduate student

Well, I had my first class as a grad student this week!

On Thursday I woke up bright and early and caught an 8 a.m. train downtown. And because I’m me, I checked my watch approximately 5,000 times on the way, terrified that I was going to be late. When the time came to transfer trains, I elbowed my way through the crowd, oblivious to who I was throwing out of my way, and jumped onto the “6” train…

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[mikedoesntunderstand]

First Amendment Law

He thinks churches are going to be forced to perform same-sex marriages. That's not how this works.

[angrybabylawyer]

First Amendment Law

"Okay, let's talk about Deepthroat for a minute. ...I'm talking about Watergate by the way. Just to be clear." #lawschoolquotes

[palmtreepalmtree]

The Sword and the Shield

It's always been interesting to me the way that popular notions of the First Amendment are so disconnected from the way that the law actually functions.  It's not uncommon to hear even politicians erroneously claiming that some other individual is violating their First Amendment right to whatever.  Which is why I am excited to share with you a new blog by my former professor about First Amendment law.  

Professor Jean-Paul Jassy is a practicing lawyer (who has argued and won before the Supreme Court) specializing in First Amendment issues, particularly those relating to online speech and new media.  His blog explains First Amendment issues in clear plain English -- and he makes his own positions clear as well.

Of particular interest to me was this post about Asiana Airlines' threatened suit over the recent broadcast of racist pilot names on a local television broadcast.  I have been wanting to post about this threatened lawsuit but not sure how to approach it.

No matter how offensive the misreporting, the argument initially struck me as specious.  But more, it feels to me as if Asiana is racing to the courthouse thinking that if it files a lawsuit first that it will somehow be protected from the massive tort suit for negligence that is all but inevitable.  I'm sorry to say, in the law, the best defense is not necessarily a good offense.

Perhaps Asiana is trying, as a PR matter, to position itself as some sort of victim to drum up public sympathy -- as if Asiana too is a victim in this sad, terrible accident.  Again, there is no question that the report was highly offensive.  But rather than bringing a frivolous lawsuit, Asiana would be better off preserving its legal resources for its own defense -- and to start thinking about what kind of financial settlement can even remotely assuage the tremendous grief over the loss of a teenage daughter.