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Palgrave Macmillan

The Politics of Freedom of Expression

The Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States

  • Book
  • © 2013

Overview

Authors:
  1. Mark J Richards

    1. Department of Political Science, Grand Valley State University, USA

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  • A unique systematic analysis of US Supreme Court decisions
  • Of wide interest to scholars of politics and law
  • Part of Palgrave Macmillan's SocioLegal Studies series

Part of the book series: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies (PSLS)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Mark J Richards
    Pages 1-10

  3. Jurisprudential Regime Theory

    • Mark J Richards
    Pages 11-44

  4. The Content-Neutrality Jurisprudential Regime

    • Mark J Richards
    Pages 45-82

  5. Statistical Methodology and Results

    • Mark J Richards
    Pages 83-102

  6. The Changing Treatment of Content-Based Cases

    • Mark J Richards
    Pages 103-142

  7. The Contours and Limits of the Content-Neutral Cases

    • Mark J Richards
    Pages 143-173

  8. Conclusion

    • Mark J Richards
    Pages 174-191

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 192-205
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Keywords

About this book

The principle of content-neutrality is the cornerstone of freedom of expression jurisprudence, protecting the core values of freedom of speech set out in the first amendment, whilst also enabling the government to place reasonable restrictions on protected speech.

The Politics of Freedom of Expression examines the US Supreme Court's decision-making in freedom of expression cases, from the Earl Warren Court in 1953 to the 2012 decisions of the John Roberts Court, assessing the extent to which the justices take into consideration their own political attitudes, jurisprudence and external factors such as federal government participation. In doing so, the book highlights the role of the civil rights movement in developing the content-neutrality jurisprudential regime.

Establishing 'jurisprudential regime theory' as a framework for incorporating the various factors that can affect decision-making, the author draws on quantitative, qualitative and interpretive methods in order to analyse the justices' changing treatment of content-based and content-neutral cases over time. This unique theoretical approach allows the text to push beyond the traditional 'law versus politics' debate in order to critically evaluate the importance of content-neutrality to the Supreme Court's decision-making, and to compare decision-making in the US with Canada, Germany, Japan and the UK.

Reviews

In this book Mark Richards addresses the debate about the role of legal considerations in the Supreme Court's decisions and presents a close examination of the Court's decisions on freedom of expression. His thoughtful and insightful analyses make important contributions to our understanding of both these subjects and the connections between them.' - Lawrence Baum, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Ohio State University, USA.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Political Science, Grand Valley State University, USA

    Mark J Richards

About the author

Mark J Richards is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Politics of Freedom of Expression

  • Book Subtitle: The Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States

  • Authors: Mark J Richards

  • Series Title: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137277589

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences Collection, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-27757-2Published: 06 August 2013

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-27758-9Published: 06 August 2013

  • Series ISSN: 2947-9274

  • Series E-ISSN: 2947-9282

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 220

  • Topics: Human Rights

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