ipl-logo

Analysis Of The Void-For Vagueness Doctrine

407 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The right to freedom of speech

A statute may be voided for vagueness if it is determined a reasonable person cannot comprehend what activity is being prohibited (Hall, 2014). Additionally, the statute may be voided if the penalty for the activity is not clearly defined so that a reasonable person could discern the penalties for the prohibited actions. This can become a due process issue, by not giving full disclosure to the people explaining the action prohibited, moreover, not detailing the punishment for the action. The void-for-vagueness doctrine provides a protection of the people, requiring that laws be detailed to avoid police and prosecutors from having infinite power over determining what individuals should be charged. The void-for-vagueness doctrine most commonly applies to criminal cases. …show more content…

The overbreadth doctrine differs from the void-for-vagueness doctrine as it applies more toward violations of Constitutional rights rather than criminal situations. The most commonly protected activity that the overbreadth doctrine prohibits infringement upon is the First Amendment of the Constitution. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech rights of the people, when a law is found to be overbroad it is commonly restricting the rights of the people to express themselves freely. An overbroad law may be so restricting the people may decide not to participate in an activity for fear of being charged with a

Show More
Related
145 Words | 1 Pages

The Supreme Court case of Engel v. Vitale’s decision was based on the establishment clause. The case of Engel v. Vitale struck down state organized prayer in school. The prayer had government endorsement and was thus considered unconstitutional. The Supreme Court case of Oregon v. Smith used the free exercise clause the basis of their decision.

Read More
1959 Words | 8 Pages

This case is also regularly cited in other Supreme Court cases and is often a deciding factor. It has been used in cases like Konigsberg v. State Bar “That view, which of course cannot be reconciled with the law relating to libel, slander, misrepresentation, obscenity, perjury, false advertising, solicitation of crime, complicity by encouragement, conspiracy, and the like, is said to be compelled by the fact that the commands of the First Amendment are stated in unqualified terms: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble . . . . " But as Mr. Justice Holmes once said: "[T]he provisions of the Constitution are not mathematical formulas having their essence in their form; they are organic living institutions transplanted from English soil.

Read More
547 Words | 3 Pages

The Free Speech Coalition claims that these prohibitions are overbroad and vague and,

Read More
1541 Words | 7 Pages

In the section titled “Intent of the Legislature,” Scalia writes on the rules of statutory construction. His first rule of interpretation has to do with the simple face value of a statute: if the requirements of the law are clear, then intention behind the law does not matter and the judge must rule in accordance with what the law says. On the subject of vague statutes, Scalia writes, “In selecting the words of the statute, the legislature might have misspoken. Why not permit that to be demonstrated from the floor debates? Or indeed, why not accept... later explanations by the legislators... as to what they really meant?”

Read More
103 Words | 1 Pages

People have the tendency to take the First Amendment for granted, but some tend to use it to their favor. Stanley Fish presents his main argument about how people misuse this amendment for all their conflicts involving from racial issues to current political affairs in his article, Free-Speech Follies. His article involves those who misinterpret the First Amendment as their own works or constantly use it as an excuse to express their attitudes and desires about a certain subject matter. He expresses his personal opinions against those who consistently use the First Amendment as a weapon to defend themselves from harm of criticism.

Read More
669 Words | 3 Pages

The first amendment was limited with the Smith Act. The Smith Act prohibited the talk of violent overthrow of the United States government (Document D). This called to question whether the first amendment allowed for radical political speech the Supreme Court at the time ruled the law was justified though now a days it is considered a clear violation of freedom of speech. Later things worsened and people began to “ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism—the right to criticize; the

Read More
950 Words | 4 Pages

This Parol evidence rule, which has been considered as a common law rule, prevent the parties to the written contract from providing any additional extrinsic evidence, which reveals an ambiguity and refines it, in addition to the terms prescribed in the written contract which appears as complete. The supporting justification to this rule is that since the parties to the contract have signed a final written contract, the extrinsic evidence of the terms and agreements held before should not be taken into consideration while construing the contract, as the contracting parties had already excluded them from the contract. In simple words, one may follow this common law rule to avoid any contradiction with the written contract.

Read More
647 Words | 3 Pages

The first amendment establishes the people the right to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and to petition. The second amendment establishes the peoples’ right to have weapons and the third amendment protects them from being forced to house the military. Due to the Fifth Amendment, Citizens’ protection from unreasonable search and seizure was put in place, as for the sixth amendment Americans has a right to an attorney and a fair trial in the court of law by an impartial jury of his or her peers. The Seventh amendment gives citizens the right to a trial by jury if there are claims exceeding twenty dollars made, and the eighth amendment makes it illegal for bail to exceed an price the contrast to the crime committed, and prevents cruel and unusual punishment by a court of law. The ninth amendment protects what may be later seen as a right, and finally, the tenth amendment gives states the right to establish laws that has yet been established by the federal

Read More
875 Words | 4 Pages

(Jay Makarenko) Accordingly, the Senate might highlight confusing ideas or language in legislation, or raise questions about potential loopholes that may diminish the usefulness of a certain

Read More
630 Words | 3 Pages

The Fourth Amendment was created in response to the British practice of issuing a general warrant—warrants that were not limited in scope. The ultimate check that the Amendment places on law enforcement is one of “reasonableness.” This creates two broad categories of searches: searches that would be unreasonable without a warrant and searches that do not require a warrant. For example, warrants are not relevant in the context of school administration. However, warrants have historically always been required in the course of ordinary law enforcement.”

Read More
754 Words | 4 Pages

It also says that the government has the right to make certain things private or classified. This is often expressed in the college campus because of the latest growth in social media. The first amendment is infringed upon everyday due to social media and the fact that there are so many posts that the government cannot manage it

Read More
738 Words | 3 Pages

The 1st Amendment You are talking about the government... BOOM!! You're in jail.

Read More
894 Words | 4 Pages

Although the US federal reserve has released the information that US citizens have amassed a net worth in the trillions, it is a priceless, intangible freedom that many Americans value most. It was 225 years ago that the First Amendment to the Constitution was adopted into the Bill of Rights: a monumental amendment that would grant Americans their freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, and the freedom of the press (Bill of Rights, First Amendment). Esteemed film critic Roger Ebert said that it is the responsibility of the citizen to speak out in order to keep our government in check. In an interview with Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive, Ebert says, “I begin to feel like most Americans don't understand the

Read More
1197 Words | 5 Pages

The Supreme Court has been entrusted with the task of interpreting the Constitution of the United States. In the First Amendment of the Constitution, freedom of speech serves as the foundational liberty which is the cornerstone to the practice of democracy. Commencing at the early part of the twentieth century cases such as Schenck v. United States, Debs v. United States, Abrams v United States, Whitney v. California, and Dennis v. United States, paved the way for the Court to set the legal standard for defining protected and unprotected speech. Nonetheless, the Court has struggled to interpret said boundaries property and has failed to protect speech in some of the above cases. This essay will analyze two different scenarios where the Court

Read More
530 Words | 3 Pages

Another great example is social media which can portray many expressions. When using any type of social media you might feel violated of the first amendment when people can report your post to be “inappropriate”. This all goes back to not having 100% right to say or post whatever you'd like. Without the cues of body language and tone, a simple post can sound threatening and offensive. So how can you overpass the law of “threat to injure the person of another” if a post is made?

Read More

More about Analysis Of The Void-For Vagueness Doctrine

Related Topics

Open Document