Christopher Dunn

December 02, 2020 | New York Law Journal

In this edition of his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn discusses a defamation lawsuit brought by Jerry Falwell Jr. He writes that the First Amendment plays a key role in protecting speakers from lawsuits. Given this protection, such lawsuits typically serve little purpose beyond shining even more public light on conduct that is embarrassing or worse.

By Christopher Dunn

10 minute read

September 30, 2020 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn's column on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: The alarming prospect of sedition prosecutions of protesters warrants an examination of the First Amendment protections against government invocation of sedition to suppress political dissent.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

August 05, 2020 | New York Law Journal

In this edition of his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn discusses the federal presence and federal officers in Portland, Orgeon and how their presence prompted three lawsuits, one from the state of Oregon, one from a group of journalists and legal observers.

By Christopher Dunn

10 minute read

June 03, 2020 | New York Law Journal

In this edition of his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn discusses cases that illustrate the obvious: Balancing the fundamental constitutional interests implicated by coronavirus-based public-gathering bans is extraordinarily difficult and extraordinarily important.

By Christopher Dunn

10 minute read

February 05, 2020 | New York Law Journal

One of the most important issues now confronting the courts is the extent to which the government can detain immigrants for long periods of time, even indefinitely, without affording them an opportunity for release. With the number of detained immigrants having exploded to nearly half a million last year and with this core constitutional issue inevitably headed back to the Supreme Court, Christopher Dunn examines the due process limits on immigration detention in this edition of his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

October 02, 2019 | New York Law Journal

Next Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in two cases that present the issue whether the landmark federal statute that bars certain discrimination in employment—Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—prohibits employers from firing people because of their sexual orientation. In anticipation of this, Christopher Dunn, in his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, explains the broader Title VII landscape bearing on the issue before the court and the reasoning of the lower courts.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

August 08, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn discusses the free speech implications that arise when the government tries to cast certain acts as lobbying, in light of the recent disclosure that New York state officials were seeking to force a sex-abuse victim to register as a lobbyist because of her efforts to promote passage of state legislation to change the statute of limitations for sex-abuse victims’ damages lawsuits. He writes: The suggestion that highway billboards rented by an individual using her own money can constitute lobbying subject to mandatory disclosure to government authorities goes far beyond what the Supreme Court has indicated is permissible consistent with the First Amendment.

By Christopher Dunn

10 minute read

June 05, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn discusses the meaningful constitutional issues surrounding government-mandated measles vaccination amid the re-emergence of the disease. Although the law is clear that the state can mandate vaccinations to address the current outbreak—even in the face of religious objections—less clear is how far the state can go in implementing such a mandate.

By Christopher Dunn

10 minute read

April 03, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn discusses dramatic developments in the Supreme Court concerning death-penalty protections, specifically cases involving striking black jurors from a jury, sentences of life in prison without parole, and a death row inmate with dementia.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

February 06, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn provides a brief background on Second Amendment jurisprudence, setting the foundation for his discussion of 'New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. City of New York', a case the Supreme Court recently accepted out of New York that threatens to curtail dramatically the ability of states and localities to regulate firearms. How the court decides this case may be a pivotal moment for public safety and constitutional jurisprudence.

By Christopher Dunn

10 minute read