Media law professor Robert Kerr breaks down the 1972 Supreme Court case Branzburg v Hayes, still the only High Court ruling on the media's protection of anonymous sources, and its muddled interpretations in the years since.
"The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state, but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published": so wrote the great English jurist William Blackstone. In this lecture, professor Rick Tepker explores the history of freedom of expression, from its beginnings through its considerable expansion across the 20th century.
Freedom of Religion
Political science professor Allen Hertzke speaks to the unique American accomplishment of religious freedom.
Religious freedom is, to be sure, a lively issue in American constitutional law. The First Amendment includes a clause that states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or make a law prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In this lecture, political science professor Justin Wert explores the meaning of "free exercise," looking at cases which have involved polygamy, peyote, and private education, among other topics.
In this lecture, professor Justin Wert explains the importance of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The clause, originally intended to prevent the national government from establishing an official religion, has much broader implications for the relations between church and state. Professor Wert explores its changing history and argues that the Supreme Court today is more accommodating to religion than at various times in the past.
Political science professor Ronald Keith Gaddie gives a lecture on one of the most hotly debated questions in the modern day United States.
Free Exercise: a right protected in the first sentence of the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. Along with the Establishment Clause, the Free Exercise clause is a foundation of religious freedom. In this lecture, professor Lindsay Robertson traces the story of American religious freedom from the experience of the first colonists to the current landscape of constitutional law.
University of Oklahoma political science professor Allen Hertzke takes to the podium with two prepared, clashing arguments, in so doing exposing the difficulties America has often had agreeing on ideas of religious freedom.
Political science professor Ronald Keith Gaddie discusses the shrinking demographic of the evangelical Christian and some of the modern legislative struggles that have arisen in relation to the separation of church and state.
Political science professor Allen Hertzke looks at the influence the US has had on the free exercise of religion in the rest of the world.
University of Oklahoma law professor Rick Tepker argues Madison, Jefferson and Washington were advocates of equality regardless of religious beliefs or fervor.
Freedom of Speech
Free speech: one of the signature individual rights. In this episode, professor Lindsay Robertson explores the many types of speech – some of them deeply offensive – which are constitutionally protected. He considers the values which are enshrined in the First Amendment and what they mean in a democracy.
You may not think an argument over a license plate could make its way to the Supreme Court, but that's precisely what happened in Walker v. Texas. OU law professor Rick Tepker reviews the case.
A profane example of a protest of the draft in the Vietnam era led to an influential opinion by one of the unsung heroes of the Supreme Court’s long struggle to give definition and reality to the constitutional promise of the First Amendment. Justice John Harlan was the great conservative dissenter of the Warren Court, but professor Rick Tepker argues the nation owes him a great debt for his careful judicial craftsmanship.
Two of the Supreme Court's most historically influential justices, early 20th Century judges Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis, repeatedly advocated for free speech during their time on the bench. University of Oklahoma law professor Rick Tepker focuses on the pair's impact.
In the second installment of his free speech series, OU professor Rick Tepker discusses a regrettable period in Supreme Court history, analyzing Dennis v. United States and Red Monday along the way.
In the final installment of professor Rick Tepker's series on free speech in America, Tepker discusses Brandenburg v. Ohio, and the Supreme Court's decision to consider specific intent when ruling in the case.
