3 research outputs found
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Rap Music and the True Threats Quagmire: When Does One Man’s Lyric Become Another’s Crime?
This Article examines the complex and unsettled state of the true threats doctrine through the lens of the equally complicated, controversial and multi- faceted musical genre of rap. Rap, although generally protected by the First Amendment, is frequently caught in the crosshairs of criminal prosecutions focusing on whether or not it constitutes a true threat of violence. Ultimately, this Article offers suggestions for how to clarify the doctrinal issues, with rap illustrating and supporting those ideas
Access to Information About Lethal Injections: A First Amendment Theory Perspective on Creating a New Constitutional Right
This article examines, through the lens of First Amendment theory, current judicial debate regarding the access rights of inmates and the public to detailed facts about lethal- injection drugs, personnel, and procedures. The article uses several 2014 appellate court disputes as analytical springboards, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s groundbreaking decision in Wood v. Ryan. The article argues that the First Amendment doctrine developed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Press-Enterprise II too narrowly cabins and confines access rights in lethal-injection data cases. In contrast, three venerable theories of free expression–the marketplace of ideas, democratic self-governance, and self-realization/human dignity–support the establishment of both an inmate’s and the public’s right to such information