The value of free speech is deeply rooted in democratic principles designed to foster a marketplace of ideas where diverse viewpoints thrive and enable accountability and social progress. Simultaneously, academic freedom is essential for the pursuit of knowledge. Yet both must be exercised responsibly. This thesis examines the intricate relationship between free speech, academic freedom, and humanistic concerns like respect, inclusivity, and diversity. By exploring pivotal court cases such as Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957), Bonnell v. Lorenzo (2001), Axson-Flynn v. Johnson (2004), Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), and Morse v. Frederick (2007), this paper illustrates the delicate balance needed in educational settings. The analysis suggests that schools should establish clear speech policies, prioritize education on responsible speech, and create committees to address speech-related concerns. An ideal policy balances court requirements, humanistic concerns, and promotes respectful dialogue while prohibiting harmful speech.

The focus of this thesis is to explore the legality, the issues, and the remedy to a controversial statute in the State of Illinois. This thesis will explain how the First Amendment relates to the Illinois statute and its desire of a citizen is right to report information that is not being granted. Moreover, this paper will further go into a recent legislative bill to amend the Illinois statute, its failure, the media surrounding the issue, and the consequences of amending or not amending the statute. It will further review state law in regard to citizens recording police officers, and explain how some states deal with the statute.

Following the decision rendered in Obergefell v. Hodges, there have been unabating talk as to how courts may rule on disputed matters involving same-sex marriages. One specific aspect this thesis intends to focus on is what to expect from custody rulings following dissolutions of same-sex marriages. The purpose of this thesis is to interpret just how courts may rule regarding child custody in same-sex divorces, based on the concept of stare decisis. Given the fresh face of marriage equality in America, there is a lack of research done in the area. This thesis will serve as a substructure and reference for other studies of its kind. Through a focus on defining factors in same-sex relationships as well as factors often identified in heterosexual relationships, this thesis will be able to compare the two to determine what appropriate outcomes courts may result to in cases of child custody following same-sex dissolutions of marriage. This thesis will compile heterosexual cases involving more role-based relationships such as the caregiver and provider as well as collect cases that reflect the egalitarian lifestyle we know to be present in same-sex couples to get a general idea of how courts may rule when both parents are at an equal standing.

It is clear that D.U.I related accidents (driving under the influence) are a highly destructive, and often preventable, occurrence in our society. In response to this, many states in the past decade or so have started to implement D.U.I court programs modeled after drug court programs. Florida, like many other states in the U.S., have multiple active D.U.I court program districts. As of this time, there are currently four active D.U.I. court programs in Florida. These D.U.I. court programs, like drug court, are designed to focus on and facilitate rehabilitative measures against offenders whom have multiple D.U.I offenses. Studies on this relatively new court program, in relation to lowering the recidivism rate on the program's participators, have mostly shown to be effective in lowering the recidivism rate and overall court costs. However, there have been studies that cast doubt on the overall effectiveness on the recidivism rate. There is also little to no amount of studies and data in regard to Florida's D.U.I. court programs. Although understudied, Florida D.U.I courts show equal potential as many other studied D.U.I. courts throughout the U.S. in effecting the recidivism rate of D.U.I. offenders. The intent of this thesis is to explore the feasibility and method of conducting research on the court program designs of each Florida's DU.I. courts, and the recidivism rate of those who successfully underwent the court programs. The present study evaluates the size, scope, and method of each of the potential DU.I. court program research methods on the currently active D.U.I. courts in Florida.

The Supreme Court Justices of the United States sit on the highest court of the land. The justices have the ultimate say as to the meaning of the Constitution, and their role could aptly be summarized as interpreters of the Constitution. They decide what the words of the nation's founding document mean and therefore help to determine the rule of law for the social, political, and economic areas of society. To help them analyze the text of the Constitution and decide what it means and subsequently apply it to cases, justices use constitutional methodologies. Constitutional methodologies are algorithms or ways of thinking about provisions of the Constitution that guide a justice's reasoning and application of the Constitution to cases. These different structured methods of analysis seem to be fair and objective ways of interpreting the Constitution and deciding cases, yet this thesis argues the opposite. The argument expounded in this thesis is that constitutional methodologies instead act as smoke screens, a sort of constitutional camouflage, that allow a justice to decide a constitutional question not according to some objective standard but rather by however they feel it should be decided according to their beliefs and values. These methodologies use their theories, arguments, and philosophies to legitimize interpreting the Constitution a certain way, but this thesis shows that they inevitably lead a justice down a camouflaged path towards a single subjective decision. Multiple justices using the same constitutional methodology to analyze the same constitutional issue could come to different conclusions based on the values they hold and how they utilize the methodology. This subjective decision hides behind the structured methods of analysis purported by constitutional methodologies, and ultimately makes them more akin to smoke screens rather than objective mechanisms for interpreting and applying the Constitution.

In criminal cases, poor individuals must qualify as legally indigent to receive legal representation. In civil cases, poor and indigent individuals must find their own resources to support themselves since the government does not guarantee counsel. Without counsel, poor and indigent individuals are forced to find legal representation for these cases on their own, which can be difficult considering the expenses of fees and fines. Cognitive processes, including bias and stereotypes, create a barrier in advocacy because they cloud judgement of decision-makers, which can diminish the voice of this vulnerable community. Barriers like these create an invisible wall where limited court access restricts poor and indigent people. While there are many factors that contribute to this problem, the legal community has a responsibility to increase and promote education on reducing the impact of the invisible wall towards vulnerable communities.

As American schools moved into the twentieth century and beyond, they encountered an increasingly litigious society. While many school districts and their employees have enjoyed protections from tort liability via some form of state tort claims act or exemption, this immunity varies from one state to another. The variations in these laws have made it difficult for educators and school districts to understand how state legislation impacts their daily activities inside and outside the classroom. In this environment, it has become imperative for educators to understand state and federal laws related to tort liability. By focusing specifically on tort claims filed against school boards and educators in the state of Alabama under the Alabama Sovereign Immunity Act, this dissertation adds to a growing body of research on state tort laws as they apply to local school boards and their employees. From over one hundred cases reviewed, fourteen were selected for in-depth analysis of the ways in which Alabama courts have interpreted sovereign immunity statutes and the specific limits on those protections. This study found that courts in Alabama have recognized local boards of education as state agencies and their employees as state agents, making them subject to the doctrine of sovereign immunity so long as they are operating within the scope of their assigned roles and responsibilities.

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Recovered memories of adults claiming to have been sexually abused as children are being challenged in court. The issue at hand is whether child abuse should be prosecuted decades after an alleged incident occurred. The scientific basis for recovering these repressed memories of child sexual abuse raises important concerns in the legal community regarding admissibility of evidence and the tolling of the statute of limitations. This paper identifies these concerns, particularly focusing upon the delayed discovery doctrine, the different standards for the admissibility of scientific evidence, the basis for recovering repressed memories and the debate in the scientific community.