Brandishing the First Amendment: Commercial Expression in America - Hardcover

Piety, Tamara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0472117920 ISBN 13: 9780472117925

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2012

Synopsis

Over the past two decades, corporations and other commercial entities have used strategic litigation to win more expansive First Amendment protections for commercial speech—from the regulation of advertising to the role corporate interests play in the political process, most recently debated in the Supreme Court case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Tamara R. Piety, a nationally known critic of commercial and corporate speech, argues that such an expansion of First Amendment speech rights imperils public health, safety, and welfare; the reliability of commercial and consumer information; the stability of financial markets; and the global environment. 

Beginning with an evaluation of commonly evoked philosophical justifications for freedom of expression, Piety determines that, while these are appropriate for the protection of an individual’s rights, they should not be applied too literally to commercial expression because the corporate person is not the moral equivalent of the human person. She then gathers evidence from public relations and marketing, behavioral economics, psychology, and cognitive studies to show how overly permissive extensions of First Amendment protections to commercial expression limit governmental power to address some of the major social, economic, and environmental challenges of our time.

“The timeliness of the topic and the provision of original positions are sure to make the book a valuable contribution that should draw much attention.”
—Kevin W. Saunders, Michigan State University

About this title

About the Author

Tamara R. Piety is the Phyllis Hurley Frey Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa College of Law.

From the Back Cover

"Do we really want to grant commercial advertising (and inevitably highly self-interested and often immensely well-off advertisers) the same degree of First Amendment protection initially crafted for 'lonely dissenters' who had good reason to be fearful of popular retribution? The Supreme Court increasingly is answering with a resounding yes. Tamara Piety offers many good arguments for skepticism about the Court's response, whether one thinks in terms of standard-model legal doctrine or the kind of society that is being shaped by the liberation of commercial advertising. One doesn't have to agree with all of her arguments in order to appreciate the care and passion she brings to an important topic." - Sanford Levinson, University of Texas School of Law

"I have been reading Tamara Piety on commercial speech for some time now. Her work on the subject has never failed to be anything short of enlightening. Brandishing the First Amendment deserves to be read as widely as possible." - Robert L. Kerr, University of Oklahoma

"The timeliness of the topic and the provision of original positions are sure to make the book a valuable contribution that should draw much attention." - Kevin W. Saunders, Michigan State University

From the Inside Flap

Over the past two decades, corporations and other commercial entities have used strategic litigation to win more expansive First Amendment protections for commercial speech- from the regulation of advertising to the role corporate interests play in the political process, most recently debated in the Supreme Court case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Tamara R. Piety, a nationally known critic of commercial and corporate speech, argues that such an expansion of First Amendment speech rights imperils public health, safety, and welfare; the reliability of commercial and consumer information; the stability of financial markets; and the global environment.
Beginning with an evaluation of commonly evoked philosophical justifications for freedom of expression, Piety determines that, while these are appropriate for the protection of an individual's rights, they should not be applied to literally to commercial expression because the corporate person is not the moral equivalent of the human person. She then gathers evidence from public relations and marketing, behavioral economics, psychology, and cognitive studies to show how overly permissive extensions of First Amendment protections to commercial expression limit governmental power to address some of the major social, economic, and environmental challenges of our time.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472117920
• ISBN 13: 9780472117925
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 342