The Law Dictionary for Everyone
Following is the case brief for Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333 (1966) Case Summary of Sheppard v. Maxwell: Sheppard was accused of killing his pregnant wife. He maintained his innocence, but the case became very highly publicized, clearly characterizing Sheppard as the killer. The publicity was so intense, in fact, that numerous incriminating stories were written about it, and […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974) Case Summary of Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.: The family of a murder victim hired petitioner to be their attorney in a civil suit against the murderer. Respondent media organization published defamatory statements about petitioner, including statements that he was a Communist and framed the murderer. […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Near v. Minnesota, United States Supreme Court, (1931) Case summary for Near v. Minnesota: Near was prevented from publishing “The Saturday Press” under a state statute which prevented the publication of “malicious, scandalous and defamatory” periodicals. This specific publication was known to publish racial slurs regarding public officials, specifically Olsen. When the state court […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Branzberg v. Hayes, United States Supreme Court, (1972) Case summary for Branzberg v. Hayes: Paul Branzberg, along with two others, challenged their contempt convictions after each refused to testify at a grand jury regarding the confidential identities and information they received. Each defendant claimed First Amendment protection as a news reporter, stating they were […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Gitlow v. New York, United States Supreme Court, (1925) Case summary for Gitlow v. New York: Gitlow was arrested after distributing socialist material he published in a newspaper. New York convicted Gitlow under a statute which prohibited advocacy of criminal anarchy. Gitlow challenged his conviction claiming the state statute was unconstitutional under the First […]
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