Chapters 4, 5, and 6: First Amendment, Libel, and Right to Privacy

Vocabulary flashcards covering key First Amendment principles, public forum categories, constitutional tests, libel elements and defenses, and the four torts and statutes of privacy law.

Free expression

Spoken, written, and symbolic expression protected by the First Amendment, with the degree of protection depending on the speaker, location, and circumstances.

Traditional public forum

Public streets, sidewalks, and parks that are traditionally open to expression and receive strong constitutional protection.

Limited public forum

Government property opened for specific activities or groups, such as university meeting rooms.

Nonpublic forum

Government property not traditionally used for public expression, such as military bases or internal school mailboxes.

Viewpoint discrimination

Restricting speech because officials disagree with its particular viewpoint; generally unconstitutional.

Content-neutral restrictions

Rules regulating the time, place, or manner of expression without targeting its message.

Symbolic speech

Communicating through actions or symbols rather than words.

Tinker Rule

The legal standard establishing that students retain First Amendment rights unless their expression causes or reasonably threatens substantial disruption or interferes with others' rights.

Disruption test

A legal test examining whether student expression materially and substantially interferes with school activities.

Hazelwood test

A legal test allowing schools to regulate school-sponsored expression for legitimate educational reasons.

Compatible use

The principle that expression may be restricted when it interferes with a location's normal activities.

Public employee speech

Expression by employees who may receive protection when speaking as citizens on matters of public concern, though official-duty speech and workplace disruption can limit protection.

Strict scrutiny

A standard of review requiring a compelling government interest and narrowly tailored restrictions using the least restrictive means.

Intermediate scrutiny

A standard of review requiring an important government interest and appropriately tailored restrictions.

Rational basis

A standard of review requiring a legitimate government interest and a rational connection to the regulation.

O’Brien test

A test evaluating government restrictions on expressive conduct when the government interest is unrelated to suppressing expression.

Fighting words

Personally directed insults likely to provoke immediate violence.

Heckler’s veto

Suppressing a speaker because an audience reacts with hostility.

Dangerous speech

Certain narrowly defined categories of expression, such as true threats and unlawful incitement, that can be restricted.

Hate-crime laws

Laws that may punish bias-motivated criminal conduct but cannot simply punish hateful opinions.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

A Supreme Court case that protected students' antiwar armbands as symbolic speech.

Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

A Supreme Court case that allowed the regulation of school-sponsored newspapers.

United States v. O’Brien (1968)

A Supreme Court case that upheld restrictions on destroying draft cards.

United States v. Grace (1983)

A Supreme Court case that protected expression on sidewalks surrounding the Supreme Court.

Connick v. Myers (1983)

A Supreme Court case that distinguished public employee speech on public concerns from personal grievances.

Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942)

A Supreme Court case that established the fighting-words doctrine.

Snyder v. Phelps (2011)

A Supreme Court case that protected offensive public protest speech on matters of public concern.

Hague v. CIO (1939)

A Supreme Court case that recognized streets and parks as traditional public forums.

Defamation

A false factual statement that damages someone’s reputation.

Libel

Traditionally written or published defamation.

Slander

Traditionally spoken defamation.

Civil libel

A lawsuit seeking compensation for reputational harm.

Criminal libel

Government prosecution under criminal defamation laws, which is uncommon in modern American law.

Identification (Libel Element)

An element of libel where the statement concerns the plaintiff; the person need not be named directly, as a photo, job title, or description may identify them.

Libel per se

A statement that is defamatory on its face.

Libel per quod

A statement requiring additional context to understand its defamatory meaning.

Falsity (Libel Element)

An element of libel requiring the statement to be materially untrue, noting that pure opinion is generally protected while false factual claims disguised as opinions may not be.

Publication (Libel Element)

Communicating defamatory information to at least one other person besides the plaintiff and defendant.

Negligence

Failing to exercise reasonable care.

Actual malice

Publishing information knowing it is false or with reckless disregard for whether it is true, rather than simply acting out of hatred or anger.

Public official

A government official whose position involves public scrutiny and who must prove actual malice in defamation cases.

All-purpose public figure

A person with widespread fame or influence who must prove actual malice to establish defamation.

Limited-purpose public figure

Someone who becomes prominent in a particular public controversy and must prove actual malice regarding that controversy.

Private figure

Someone who does not qualify as a public official or public figure, generally facing a lower fault standard in defamation cases, commonly negligence.

Truth (Defense)

A complete defense against defamation when the statement is substantially true, though proving it can require evidence.

Republication

Repeating someone else’s defamatory statement, which can create liability since quoting another person does not automatically protect a journalist.

Privilege (Defamation Defense)

Legal protection for certain statements, including fair and accurate reports of official proceedings.

Fair comment

A defense that protects genuine opinions and criticism that do not assert false defamatory facts.

Neutral reportage

A defense recognized in some jurisdictions for accurate and neutral reporting of accusations, though not universally accepted.

Retraction

A correction or withdrawal of a defamatory statement that may reduce damages but does not automatically eliminate liability.

Anti-SLAPP laws

Laws intended to protect people against lawsuits designed to intimidate or silence lawful public participation.

Actual damages

Monetary compensation awarded for demonstrated injury in a defamation suit.

Presumed damages

Damages that may be awarded without proof of specific monetary loss in certain cases.

Punitive damages

Additional damages intended to punish wrongdoing in a lawsuit.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress

A separate legal claim involving extreme and outrageous conduct causing severe emotional distress.

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)

The landmark case that established the actual malice standard for public officials bringing defamation claims.

Right to privacy

Legal protection for personal space, private information, identity, and certain personal activities.

Constitutional privacy

Privacy protections not explicitly stated as one general right in the Constitution, but identified by courts across several amendments, particularly the Fourth Amendment.

Warren and Brandeis (1890)

Authors who published an influential legal article describing privacy as the right to be let alone.

Intrusion upon seclusion

A privacy tort involving intentionally invading someone’s private space or affairs in a way that is highly offensive to a reasonable person, such as secretly recording someone in a private room.

Public disclosure of private facts

A privacy tort involving publicizing highly offensive private information that is not of legitimate public concern, such as publishing intimate personal records.

Commercial appropriation

A privacy tort involving the unauthorized use of someone’s name, photograph, or likeness for commercial benefit, such as in an advertisement.

False light

A privacy tort involving publicizing information that creates a misleading and highly offensive impression about someone, such as placing an unrelated person’s photo beside a story in a falsely implicating manner.

Reasonable expectation of privacy

The legal standard assessing whether someone reasonably expects an area or communication to remain private, which is central to determining whether certain intrusions are unlawful.

Visual intrusion

Invading privacy through photography, video recording, or surveillance.

Data snooping

Improperly accessing another person’s private digital information or records.

Digital privacy

Legal protections concerning electronic communications, stored information, and online activity.

Paparazzi

Photographers who may generally photograph what is visible from public locations, but whose intrusive conduct such as harassment or stalking can create liability.

Right of publicity

A person’s ability to control certain commercial uses of their identity, including their name, image, and likeness.

Celebrity publicity rights

The right allowing celebrities to protect the commercial value of their identities even though their public activities receive extensive media coverage.

Transformative use

A defense that may protect creative works significantly transforming a person’s likeness, depending on applicable law.

Privacy after death

The legal rule where some states protect certain publicity rights after death, while ordinary personal privacy claims generally do not survive.

Newsworthiness

A legitimate public interest in information that can protect disclosure from certain privacy claims.

False light versus libel

The legal distinction where libel primarily protects reputation, whereas false light protects against highly offensive misleading portrayals and associated personal harm.

Journalistic embellishment

Adding or changing details that create a misleading impression about an individual.

Fictionalization

Changing factual details for dramatic purposes, potentially creating a false portrayal.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (1986)

Legislation that provides legal protections against certain unauthorized interceptions and access to electronic communications.

USA PATRIOT Act (2001)

Legislation that expanded government investigative and surveillance powers, subject to statutory and constitutional limitations.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (1998)

Federal legislation that regulates the online collection of personal information from children under 13.

Roberson v. Rochester Folding Box Co. (1902)

A case where a woman's photograph was used without permission in advertising, helping inspire New York’s privacy legislation.

Galella v. Onassis (1973)

A case establishing that intrusive paparazzi behavior can be restricted to protect personal privacy.

Pearson v. Dodd (1969)

A case that addressed the limits of intrusion liability involving information obtained from private documents.

Muhammad Ali v. Playgirl

A case that concerned the unauthorized commercial use of a celebrity’s likeness.

Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. (1977)

A case recognizing a performer’s right of publicity when a television station broadcast his entire act without permission.

Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001)

A case that protected the publication of a matter of public concern when the publisher did not participate in the illegal interception and lawfully obtained the recording.

Katz v. United States (1967)

A case establishing important Fourth Amendment protections for private telephone conversations.

Carpenter v. United States (2018)

A case that generally required a warrant for government acquisition of historical cell-site location information.

Time Inc. v. Hill (1967)

A case addressing false-light claims arising from inaccurate portrayals involving matters of public interest.