Search Results for “academic freedom” – Page 10

When AK shoots from the lip, life is never boring. One friend likes his fiercely libertarian instincts, another his mercurial contrarian attitudes – I have always been a fan of his provocative First Amendment scholarship and decisions (one of the classic articles on the doctrine of commercial speech is Kozinski and Stuart Banner “Who’s Afraid of Commercial Speech?” 76 Virginia Law Review 627 (1990) (pdf); see also their sequel “The Anti-History and Pre-History of Commercial Speech” 71 Texas Law Review 747 (1993) (pdf); summary here).

Last week, he made speech theory life very interesting indeed. Delivering an address at a Pepperdine University School of Law Sympoisum on Free Speech & Press in the Modern Age – Can 20th Century Theory Bear the Weight of 21st Century Demands?, AK argued that the First Amendment is dead! In a summary provided by Roger Alford on Opinio Juris (also Legal Blog Watch | First Amendment Law Prof Blog), in a speech entitled “The Late, Great First Amendment”, the essence of what AK had to say was that

in a day when Internet speech is not capable of suppression, the ability of the First Amendment to have a moderating effect is now gone.

…

Give speech a chance

26 November, 20077 August, 2009

| 8 Comments

| Blasphemy, Censorship, Freedom of Expression, Media and Communications

Three free speech stories in the BBC News and Guardian websites caught my eye this morning. Indeed, the first two were almost side by side on both sites. In the first, there is widespread dismay at the arrest of a British school teacher in the Sudan accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet, after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad (BBC | Guardian). In the second, protests are expected later outside the Oxford Union (see also wikipedia) when Nick Griffin (see also wikipedia), Chairman of the British National Party, and David Irving (see also BBC | Holocaust History | Kizkor | wikipedia), Holocaust denier, arrive for a forum on The Limits of Free Speech (BBC | Guardian).

There is an inconsistency here; and the incongruous but serendipitous placement of these two stories side by side demonstrates it: we cannot be outraged both at the arrest of the teacher and at the speech of Nick Griffin and David Irving. Society cannot have it both ways, it is not free to pick and choose which speech to support. Those in favour of speech must afford it both to the teacher and to Griffin and Irving.…

Why should politicians not criticise judges?

18 July, 20075 November, 2016

| 1 Comment

| Irish Law, Irish Society

In a report published last night, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), a leading and well-respected independent organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting human rights, called for the introduction of a Judicial Council to strengthen the accountability of the Irish judiciary (see RTÉ | Irish Examiner | Irish Independent (Dearbhail McDonald) | Irish Times (here and here)). Tanya Ward, Senior Research and Policy Officer with the ICCL, undertook a year of independent and original research, including in-depth interviews with senior members of the Irish judiciary, to produce Justice Matters. Independence, Accountability and the Irish Judiciary (summary (pdf); Part I (pdf); Part II (pdf)).

It is a hugely important development, and very welcome. For example, a major finding from the research is that complaints against judges have not been processed expeditiously, and the Government’s handling of the issue of judicial complaints is criticised; so the report’s central recommendation is that the State finally establish a long-overdue Judicial Council, to hold judges to account where necessary whilst also respecting the constitutionally protected independence of the judiciary; and it also recommends a judicial Code of Ethics and greater transparency in the process of appointing judges.…

Xenophobic European Bloggers Beware

28 April, 200727 January, 2009

| 4 Comments

| Blogging, Freedom of Expression, Media and Communications

Kevin Jon Heller cuts right to the heart of what will happen now that the EU Criminalizes Racist and Xenophobic Speech:

The real problem with the Framework’s approach to racist and xenophobic speech is the profoundly chilling effect it will almost certainly have on such speakers. What rational artist or filmmaker will risk pushing the ideological envelope if she knows that the criminality of her speech depends not on her intent but on the (unpredictable) reactions of others to it?

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Article 40.6.1(i) finally gets some teeth!?

15 March, 200719 October, 2020

| 18 Comments

| Freedom of Expression, Irish Law, Irish Society, Media and Communications

Various news services (BreakingNews.ie | Ireland.com | RTÉ) report that Mr Justice de Valera today struck down section 3 of the Vagrancy (Ireland) Act 1847 (as amended by the Public Assistance Act, 1939), much to the chagrin of the perpetually angry JC Skinner. That section made begging in a public place an offence, and de Valera J struck it down as a disproportionate infringement upon the right to freedom of expression in Article 40.6.1(i) of the Constitution and the unenumerated right to communicate located in Article 40.3.1

Perhaps this will be the spur to dust down the Law Reform Commission’s 1985 Report on Vagracy, as part of a thorough-going reform of an area of the law largely untouched since Victorian times? More importantly, as far as I know (and the High Court in The State (Lynch) v Cooney [1992] IR 337 notwithstanding) this is the first time that a section of an Irish Act has been struck down on freedom of expression grounds. If so, that makes today a red letter day in Irish constitutional history: the day upon which Article 40.6.1(i) finally gets some teeth. …

Don’t say it ain’t so

13 January, 200727 January, 2009

| 4 Comments

| Freedom of Expression

The Irish Times today carries a report by Jamie Smyth that Germany has proposed an EU ban on holocaust denial and – perhaps – the dissemination of xenophobic statements that could incite violence or hatred. Germany, in common with several other EU states, including France, Belgium and Austria (as David Irving found out), has holocaust denial legislation on its statute books, and legislation against incitement to racial hatred is to be found in countries like Ireland and the UK.

We have been here before (Smyth says that an earlier attempt by Germany in 2004 to get this type of law passed by the Council of Ministers foundered), and this initiative may similarly come to naught. It should. …

About

I’m Dr Eoin O’Dell a Fellow and Associate Professor at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin. That’s me in the photo on the left, with a bust of Archbishop James Ussher looming over my shoulder in the Long Room, Trinity College Dublin.

My first public post (26 January 2007) is here: Hello, world. However, I was practice-blogging since the end September of 2006, and those posts of the Sept 06 to Jan 07 period that survived my profound technological incompetence are available in the archives.

The end of September 2006 was the beginning of a new academic year; and it was as good a time as any for an academic to launch yet another blog, one of the many (millions, hundreds of millions, squillions?) filling up the blogosphere. Of course, there are lots of new years, and not just 1 January. The Chinese new year, following a lunar calendar, occurs around the beginning of spring (between 21 January and 21 February). The Islamic calendar is also lunar, and shorter than the solar year by 11 or 12 days, and so the Islamic new year – on the first day of Muharram – moves through the solar year.…

cearta.ie

Search Results for: academic freedom

The First Amendment is dead; long live the First Amendment

Give speech a chance

Why should politicians not criticise judges?

Xenophobic European Bloggers Beware

Article 40.6.1(i) finally gets some teeth!?

Don’t say it ain’t so

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