...Business Law Snyder v. Phelps Snyder v. Phelps Certainly the case of Snyder v. Phelps is one in which the Supreme Court must tread lightly. The decision is crucial to the preservation of an individual’s right to peace of mind, however, when first amendment rights stand to be updated, the decision requires remarkable foresight and caution. The arguments in Case 09-751, Snyder v. Phelps frequently reference the precedent case of Hustler v. Falwell. The supreme court overturned the appellate court decision, and ruled in favor of upholding Hustler Magazine’s right to make statements (although outrageous and malign) against an established public figure; Falwell. Mr. Summers, the petitioner in Snyder v. Phelps, asserts that private and public figures must be treated differently. In the case of Snyder v. Phelps, the deliberate defamation of the deceased 20 year old marine caused significant emotional distress to the father, Albert Snyder. Furthermore, the petitioner stresses that the emotional distress brought on by Phelps was prolific, egregious, and done with malicious intent. The backbone of the petitioner’s argument is that in contrast to the protection of free speech against public figures, upheld in Hustler v. Falwell, private figures such as Albert Snyder should be protected against cruel publications and protests that cause emotional distress. Matthew Snyder was a marine, and a catholic, and a young American. The Westboro Baptist Church defamed him, and caused grievance...
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...Legal and Social Environments of Business Snyder v. Phelps 25 March 2011 A case that could be argued for ages between countless people with deciphering opinions, Snyder v. Phelps, is one of the most controversial cases I have ever read about. Pretty much everyone has an opinion about it, with the vast majority of people favoring against Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro’s hate covers every end of the spectrum, all the way from Roman Catholics to homosexuals, with American soldiers and disaster victims in between. Because of that, most people were outraged with the outcome of this case, which ruled in favor of the WBC. Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder was killed in the line of duty in the Iraq War and his funeral service was to be held at a church in his hometown of Westminster, Maryland. Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, caught word of the funeral and decided to picket Snyder’s funeral along with six of his relatives, all of whom were also members of the WBC, which is based out of Topeka, Kansas. Westboro had been picketing funerals, disasters, religious gatherings, and public events such as gay pride rallys for at least the last twenty years. The church wanted to take advantage of this, for lack of a better word, “opportunity” to once again state their view that America’s tolerance of homosexuality is what has caused all of the country’s problems, such as the death of American soldiers, natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina...
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...the Constitution granting the right of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, to peacefully assemble, and to petition to the government for grievances. Though stated in simple terms, the views on them have been challenged on many occasions throughout U.S. history. Cases have been fought over the definition and limitation of the first amendment and if a case is deemed controversial enough it may appear before the Supreme Court, as the verdict may have a substantial effect on the country and future views of the first amendment. The views of a case may be for some deemed for the better, while others for the worse. Taking a look at the two cases of NAACP v Alabama and Snyder v Phelps will show their impacts on the first amendment as well as the controversy surrounding them due to their time frames. In the case of NAACP v Alabama, the state of Alabama was trying to force the NAACP out of the state by claiming the organization was disturbing the peace, intruding on the civil rights of the citizens and later filed a restraining order against the NAACP. The state of Alabama also wanted a roster of everyone within the NAACP who showed up for protests and assemblies, in which the NAACP refused stating that their first and fourteenth amendment rights were being violated. The supreme court of Alabama sided with the state of Alabama, which lead the NAACP to appeal and bring the case before the Supreme Court. After five years and four appearances before the Supreme Court, the NAACP...
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...United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus SNYDER v. PHELPS ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 09–751. Argued October 6, 2010—Decided March 2, 2011 For the past 20 years, the congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church has picketed military funerals to communicate its belief that God hates the United States for its tolerance of homosexuality, particularly in America’s military. The church’s picketing has also condemned the Catholic Church for scandals involving its clergy. Fred Phelps, who founded the church, and six Westboro Baptist parishioners (all relatives of Phelps) traveled to Maryland to picket the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq in the line of duty. The picketing took place on public land approximately 1,000 feet from the church where the funeral was held, in accordance with guidance from local law enforcement officers. The picketers peacefully displayed their signs—stating, e.g., “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “Fags Doom Nations,” “America is Doomed,” “Priests Rape Boys,” and “You’re Going to Hell”—for about 30 minutes before the funeral began. Matthew Snyder’s father (Snyder), petitioner here, saw the tops of the picketers’ signs when driving to the funeral, but did not learn what was written on the signs until watching a news broadcast later that night. Snyder filed a diversity action against Phelps, his daughters—who...
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...started to recognize the significance of hate speech beginning in 1940, and policies began to form to protect offensive speech. At this point in history, hate speech was better known as “racial and religious propaganda” (Walker 62). The Holocaust was a major turning point for America, because we realized the destruction that it caused, and the government wanted to make sure nothing of that nature ever happened again. Americans realized it was constitutionally important to protect minorities that were being mistreated. In a time when Americans were striving to protect minorities, the Jehovah’s Witnesses crisis ensued. These Witnesses were creating offensive religious publicity through speaking to anyone and everyone that would listen. Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) is a...
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...decision in Synder v Phelps, which upheld the Westboro Baptist church’s right to free speech during their picketing of military funerals. The Court’s decision was settled in the determination of whether the speech in question was of public or private concern, which is protected under the First Amendment. The court reversed its decision and applied the First Amendment protection of speech on matters of public concern, even when the speech was offensive or hurtful. “Westboro had been actively engaged in speaking on the subjects addressed in its picketing long before it became aware of Matthew Snyder, and there can be no serious claim that the picketing did not represent Westboro’s honestly held beliefs on public issues” (CITE). The Court also emphasized that Westboro’s picketing did not disrupt the funeral and was conducted peacefully, warranting protection under the First Amendment. “Westboro had been actively engaged in speaking on the subjects addressed in its picketing long before it became aware of Matthew Snyder, and there can be no serious claim that the picketing did not represent Westboro’s honestly held beliefs on...
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...There were three Supreme Court cases that highlighted hate speech and how they were used by the plaintiff/defendant. The most well-known court case was National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie in 1979. The Supreme Court ruled that the use of swastikas were a symbolic form of free speech and they were not "fighting words." It established that any controversial organizations were granted protected under the First Amendment to do anything as long it did not violate it. And it did not just crushed those organizations’ rights to be vocal of their opinions and expression it in the form of protesting and hosting speeches in the public. The next Supreme Court case addressed laws that limited someone’s freedom of expression and speech....
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...scrutinizing look at those individuals expected to teach our children right from wrong. Many wonder how the coach with smokeless tobacco in his mouth during practice can effectively teach students about its dangers in the classroom. If student athletes trying to emulate the coach start using smokeless tobacco, is the coach liable? Legal Issues With regards to the law it can be stated that teachers are privy to the same First Amendment rights as any other citizen. In actuality teachers, especially in small towns, are afforded very limited personal privacy. (Phelps, 2003) Some rights activists argue the unfairness of this higher standard and maintain that teachers should be treated no differently than any other citizen. Yet, many school districts rebut that a teachers actions outside of school are private only when the teacher’s ability in the classroom or the integrity of the school system are not at risk. (Phelps, 2003) Individual states have policies in place stating specifics regarding when teacher licensure can be revoked or a teacher can be dismissed. For example in Tennessee a...
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...Speak for Yourself On September 25, 1789 the fore fathers of the United States proposed what is now known as the U.S. Constitution. The first Amendment that was declared stated: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceable to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” However, the origin of law was around even before the First Amendment came to be a law. Areopagitica was published November 23, 1644 at the height of the English Civil War. This story essentially advocated for removal of censorship, claiming that censorship did not exist in the Greek or Roman society therefore it should not exist at all. According to John Milton’s Areopagitica , “And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter.” This is of extreme significance to the origin of law because it advocates for removal of censorship in addition to the implementation of freedom of speech. Furthermore, the story of Areopagitica advocated the idea that common law should exist and that each party should have the right to speak their mind. Individuals should have the right to argue and defend their speech; they...
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...church group from Texas. This church has also been protesting the homosexual agenda that has lead a court ruling that they can get married. That marriage in all its forms is allowed whether it is between a man and a woman, or a same sex couple. This church leads these protests with signs that “destruction is imminent” or “USA = Fag Nation.” This has people in an uproar about the church and its use of their freedom of speech. They want this church to be banned from protesting and spreading their hate across the nation. But under the first amendment they are protected and allowed the freedom to do just what makes them unpopular. In 2010 the Westboro Baptist Church traveled to Maryland to picket the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq in the line of duty. The father of the deceased took them to court citing intentional infliction of emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion, and civil conspiracy. The local court ruled in favor of the father assigning damages to be paid to him. This was upheld in another court, but the damages were reduced. The Westboro Church went to the 4th circuit court for another appeal and the ruling was overturned, the court stated that “Westboro’s statements were entitled to First Amendment protection because those statements were on matters of public concern, were not provably false, and were expressed solely through hyperbolic rhetoric.” Despite the plea to the courts to stop the actions performed by the Westboro...
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...Advocacy Groups - an association of individuals or organizations who unite to actively support or defend an idea, usually to influence policies or resource allocations through media campaigns, public presentations, publicity, and legislative lobbying efforts; GROUP WHO TRY TO RAISE AWARENESS AND INFLUENCE POLITICS AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION advocacy groups are broader. interest groups are more specific. for example an environmental group would be an advocacy group and a group to save the rainforest would be an interest group. Amicus Curiae - “Friend of the Court.” A brief filed in a lawsuit by an individual or group that is not party to the lawsuit but that has an interest in the outcome. SOMEONE, NOT BELONGING TO ANY PARTY, VOLUNTEERS TO OFFER INFORMATION TO ASSIST IN A CASE, WHICH IS WHY IT MEANS FRIEND OF THE COURT Astroturf - refers to political, advertising or public relations campaigns that are designed to mask the sponsors of the message to give the appearance of coming from a disinterested, grassroots participant (i.e. fake grassroots); FAKE GRASS/FAKE SUPPORT; OPPOSITE OF GRASSROOTS; Creating the impression of public support by paying people in the public to pretend to be supportive. Bundling - A tactic in which PACs collect contributions from like-minded individuals (each limited to $2000) and present them to a candidate or political party as a “bundle,” thus increasing the PAC’s influence. Checkbook Membership- send in money to be a member A checkbook member is...
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...Virtual Teams: A Review of Current Literature and Directions for Future Research1 The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems Anne Powell Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Gabriele Piccoli Cornell University Blake Ives University of Houston Winter 2004 (Vol. 35, No. 1) Introduction Global competition, reengineered product life cycles, mass customization, and the increased need to respond quickly to customers’ needs are just some of the more pronounced trends currently driving organizational change (Grenier & Metes, 1995; Miles & Snow, 1986; Miles & Snow, 1992). One of the building blocks of these successful organizations is the Virtual Team. As a consequence, a growing number of organizations are implementing them or plan to implement them in the near future (Lipnack &Stamps, 1997; McDonough et al., 2001) and their use is expected to continue to grow (Carmel & Agarwal, 2001; McDonough et al., 2001). The increasing popularity of virtual teams has spurred a parallel growth in research examining various aspects of virtual team adoption and use. Recent research has studied virtual team inputs, socioemotional processes, task processes, and outcomes. Much of this literature focuses on comparisons of virtual teams and traditional teams. Virtual Teams Traditionally, both the terms “team” and “group” have been used to describe small collections of people at work. While the two terms are often used interchangeably...
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...resulting resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Copyright © 2012 by Charles Duhigg All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4000-6928-6 eBook ISBN 978-0-679-60385-6 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Illustrations by Anton Ioukhnovets www.atrandom.com 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 First Edition Book design by Liz Cosgrove Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd iv 10/17/11 12:01 PM To Oliver, John Harry, John and Doris, and, everlastingly, to Liz Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd v 10/17/11 12:01 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd vi 10/17/11 12:01 PM CONTENTS PROLOGUE The Habit Cure GGG xi PA R T O N E The Habits of Individuals 1. THE HABIT LOOP How Habits Work 3 31 60 2. THE CRAVING BRAIN How to Create New Habits 3. THE GOLDEN RULE OF HABIT CHANGE Why Transformation Occurs GGG PA R T T W O The Habits of Successful Organizations 4. KEYSTONE HABITS, OR THE BALLAD OF PAUL O’NEILL Which Habits Matter Most 97 Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd vii 10/17/11 12:01 PM viii G Contents 5. STARBUCKS AND THE HABIT OF SUCCESS When Willpower...
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...FREAKONOMICS A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Revised and Expanded Edition Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner CONTENTS AN EXPLANATORY NOTE In which the origins of this book are clarified. vii PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION xi 1 INTRODUCTION: The Hidden Side of Everything In which the book’s central idea is set forth: namely, if morality represents how people would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work. Why the conventional wisdom is so often wrong . . . How “experts”— from criminologists to real-estate agents to political scientists—bend the facts . . . Why knowing what to measure, and how to measure it, is the key to understanding modern life . . . What is “freakonomics,” anyway? 1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common? 15 In which we explore the beauty of incentives, as well as their dark side—cheating. Contents Who cheats? Just about everyone . . . How cheaters cheat, and how to catch them . . . Stories from an Israeli day-care center . . . The sudden disappearance of seven million American children . . . Cheating schoolteachers in Chicago . . . Why cheating to lose is worse than cheating to win . . . Could sumo wrestling, the national sport of Japan, be corrupt? . . . What the Bagel Man saw: mankind may be more honest than we think. 2. How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? 49 In which it is argued that nothing is more powerful than information,...
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...Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1 BRAIN POWER Myth #1 Most People Use Only 10% of Their Brain Power Myth #2 Some People Are Left-Brained, Others Are Right-Brained Myth #3 Extrasensory Perception (ESP) Is a Well-Established Scientific Phenomenon Myth #4 Visual Perceptions Are Accompanied by Tiny Emissions from the Eyes Myth #5 Subliminal Messages Can Persuade People to Purchase Products 2 FROM WOMB TO TOMB Myth #6 Playing Mozart’s Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence Myth #7 Adolescence Is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil Myth #8 Most People Experience a Midlife Crisis in | 8 Their 40s or Early 50s Myth #9 Old Age Is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility Myth #10 When Dying, People Pass through a Universal Series of Psychological Stages 3 A REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST Myth #11 Human Memory Works like a Tape Recorder or Video Camera, and Accurate Events We’ve Experienced Myth #12 Hypnosis Is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events Myth #13 Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences Myth #14 Most People with Amnesia Forget All Details of Their Earlier Lives 4 TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS Myth #15 Intelligence (IQ) Tests Are Biased against Certain Groups of People My th #16 If You’re Unsure of Your Answer When Taking a Test, It’s Best to Stick with Your Initial Hunch Myth #17 The Defining Feature of Dyslexia Is Reversing Letters Myth #18 Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to...
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