MEJO 341 Midterm Exam Study Questions
with Verified Answers
Types of supreme court opinions - ✔✔1. Opinion of the court (majority opinion)
2. Concurring opinion
3. Dissenting opinion (minority opinion)
4. Plurality opinion
5. Per curiam opinion (unsigned opinion)
6. Memorandum order
what are the two types of media law issues? - ✔✔civil and criminal
media law issue: civil - ✔✔Several torts such as libel, invasion of privacy, right of publicity,
and others.
Breach of contract and fraud may also be civil claims.
Copyright and trademark infringement may also be civil claims.
An individual whose constitutional rights have been violated may bring a civil action against the
government (42 U.S.C. §1983).
media law issue: criminal - ✔✔Many legal concepts that create civil liability can also create
criminal liability.
Copyright and trademark infringement can be criminal (think of mass pirating of CDs or DVDs,
for example).
,Obscenity laws and child pornography laws are criminal matters.
Laws that regulate threats, harassment, profanity, or other kinds of speech may also be criminal
matters.
case law - ✔✔the rules of law announced in court decisions
judicial review - ✔✔the right of the court to declare any law or official governmental action
invalid because it violates a constitutional provision
What court case established judicial review? - ✔✔Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Common law - ✔✔A legal system based on custom and court rulings
Libel - ✔✔A written defamation of a person's character, reputation, business, or property
rights.
John Milton - ✔✔wrote Aeropagitica, which put forth an argument in favor of freedom of
speech and press.
How did enlightenment era thinkers contribute to the evolution of the first amendment? -
✔✔Several enlightenment era thinkers began to propose a notion that men should be
treated as equals and that they should be free to have thoughts, beliefs, or ideas that were
different from others.
trial of John Peter zinger - ✔✔pushed freedom of press which would later be found in the
first amendment.
, was arrested on charges of libel
William Blackstone - ✔✔an influential English judge, published a book stating that freedom
of the press should mean that no prior restraints are imposed on speech.
No prior restraint - ✔✔the idea that the press can not be prevented from operating or
publishing, but can be punished for what it does publish
cannot punish speech before it happens
Near v. Minnesota, 283 US 697 (1931) - ✔✔• Prior or previous restraints on the press violate
the 1st
Amendment in most cases
• Minnesota Rag, 1981, Fred Friendly
• Clear and Present Danger Test
• WW I dissenters
• Argues it was not a clear and present danger
gag law - ✔✔a legal order that prohibits a certain group of people from exercising free
speech rights in relation to a particular situation or topic
Does the "gag law" violate freedom of the press? - ✔✔Yes. A permanent ban on future
publications was unconstitutional.
NYT Co. v. US, 403 US 713 (1971) - ✔✔During rising tensions over the undeclared Vietnam
War, the New York Times attained top-secret articles based on the 1968 study, "History of U.S.
Decision Making Process on Viet Nam Policy." The New York Times analyzed the articles for
several months, and on June 13, 1971, it began publication. After the third set of articles was
published, the Department of Justice sought an injunction to halt any further publication. The
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