Jimmy Kimmel, Free Speech and our Tenuous Times
Prof. Laura Little is a First Amendment scholar and expert on humor and the law. She offers her take on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and more in this Q&A with the Philadelphia Citizen. Read more
Author: Laura E. Little
Trump ‘Bidenomics’ ad shows a Philly-area mom who really supports Kamala Harris I Helen Ubinas
Kimberly Burrelt’svoice and image were used in an ad attacking Kamala Harris without her knowledge or consent. While technically legal, Prof. Laura Little sees it as a cautionary tale: “We’re going to be deluged in the next month with all these attack ads and it kind of brings home that you need to take them with a grain of salt.” Read More
Experts laud legal system for withstanding pressures of Trump trial
Prof. Laura Little offered praise for the judicial system in the wake of Donald Trump’s trial: “That is a lot of checks, a lot of process, to try to account for the fact we’re human, and we make mistakes,” Little said. “The courts are the crucial step in maintaining the rule of law.” Read More
Why you won’t want to miss Philly’s historic November election
Prof. Laura Little explains what the PA Supreme Court does ahead of the November elections. Read More
Coping (through Humor) with October Term 2022, U.S. Supreme Court
Whether you agree or disagree with the decisions handed down during the U.S. Supreme Court’s term ending just this June, you must agree that the term was quite a doozy. Affirmative Action out the window, student loans assistance down the drain, important LGBTQIA+ protections up in smoke. Those who are enraged or deeply disappointed by the decisions turned to a tried-and-true way to express their sentiments: humor. One of the wonders of humor is that it comes in so many varieties and adapts to such a broad array of media. Here’s just a few examples. Starting first at the nerve center of the Court itself, the dissenting opinions from the term had quite a few zingers: “With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat, But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.” “The best that can be said of the majority’s perspective is that it proceeds (ostrich-like) from the hope that preventing consideration of race will end racism.” Justice Ketanji Brown …
With Such Controversial SCOTUS cases, How are Law Professors reacting?
Are recent decisions evidence that the Supreme Court has abandoned principles like standing and precedent? Prof. Laura Little shares a historical perspective and how she asks students to think about such questions in this episode of KYW’s In Depth podcast. Listen
Canadian Court Rules 👍 Emoji Counts as a Contract Agreement
In a ruling Prof. Laura Little calls “a remarkable sign of the new world of communication,” a Canadian court has found that a thumbs-up emoji can “snap the trap of creating a contract.” Read More
Is Trump “too big” for Trademark
Can “Trump Too Small” be trademarked, or does the phrase run afoul of the trademark act? Prof. Laura Little delves into SCOTUS’s apparent interest in trademark law as it intersects with freedom of expression in her latest post on ForHum. Read More
Criminal – Episode 207: Novak v. City of Parma on Stitcher
Prof. Laura Little on parody as the Supreme Court’s favored child and the Onion’s now-famous amicus brief in this episode of Criminal, a podcast about crime. Listen
Fox’s $787.5 Million Settlement Doesn’t End Its 2020 Liability
While the settlement between Fox and Dominion doesn’t include an explicit apology, Prof. Laura Little says a reference to “certain claims about Dominion” was as close as they were likely to get. Read More
