Publications

Books, including monographs and treatises

First Amendment Law Handbook (Editor) (Thomson/West 2006-2007 Edition) (forthcoming October 2006)  

Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties, Editor, Paul Finkelman, Associate Editors, Rodney Smolla, Gabriel Chin, Davison Douglas, Melvin Urofsky, Mary Volcansek, Three Volumes, (Routledge 2006). 

Law of Lawyer Advertising (2 volumes) (Thomson/West 2006). 

Constitutional Law: Structure and Rights in Our Federal System (with Professors Daan Braveman and William C. Banks) (Lexis 5th Edition 2005).  (supplemented annually)

First Amendment Law Handbook (Editor) (Thomson/West 2005-2006 Edition)  

Constitutional Law: Structure and Rights in Our Federal System (with Professors Daan Braveman and William C. Banks) (Lexis 4th Edition 1999).  

Law of Defamation (Second Edition, Thomson/West 1999).  (2 volumes, supplemented twice annually)

Deliberate Intent: A Lawyer Tells the True Story of Murder by the Book (Crown Publishers 1999). 

The First Amendment: Freedom of Expression, Regulation of Mass Media, Freedom of Religion (Carolina Academic Press 1999). 

The Bill of Rights, the Courts, and the Law, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, 1999. 

Smolla and Nimmer on Freedom of Speech: A Treatise on the First Amendment, (Thomson/West, 3d Edition 1996 (2 volumes)).  (supplemented annually)

A Year in the Life of the Supreme Court (Duke University Press, 1995) (Rodney A. Smolla, editor).  (Received the 1996 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award)

Federal Civil Rights Acts (Thomson/West 3d Edition 1994).   (2 volumes, supplemented twice annually)

Constitutional Law: Structure and Rights in Our Federal System (with Professors Daan Braveman and William C. Banks) (Lexis 3d Edition 1993). 

Free Speech in an Open Society (Alfred A. Knopf, 1992) (Vintage Paperback edition 1993) (Arab Language Edition Published 1996)   (Received the 1992 William O. Douglas Prize for Most Distinguished Monograph in Freedom of Expression, Commission on Freedom of Expression of the Speech Communication Association)

Jerry Falwell v. Larry Flynt:  The First Amendment on Trial (St. Martin's Press, 1988; paperback edition University of Illinois Press). 

Constitutional Law: Structure and Rights in Our Federal System (with Professors Daan Braveman and William C. Banks) (Matthew Bender 2nd Edition 1988). 

Suing the Press: Libel, the Media, and Power (Oxford University Press, 1986).  (Received American Bar Association Gavel Award Certificate of Merit, 1987)

Book Chapters

Anatomy of an Oral Argument, in “Defending the First: Commentary on First Amendment Issues and Cases” Joseph Russomanno, Editor (Lawrence Erlbaum 2005). 

The People’s Right to Know: Transparency in Government Institutions, in “Democracy Papers,” Office of International Information Programs,” Melvin Urofsky, Editor (United States Department of State 2003). 

The Annenberg Libel Reform Proposal, Book Chapter in John Soloski and Randall P. Bezanson, Reforming Libel Law (1992). 

Balancing Freedom of Expression and Protection of Reputation Under the Canadian Charter, in Schneiderman, Freedom of Expression and the Charter (1991). 

The Annenberg Libel Reform Proposal: The Case for Enactment, 31 William and Mary Law Review 241 (1990). 

Law Review Articles and other scholarly publications

Classic Revisited Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451, 107 Mich. L. Rev. 892 (2009).  

Words "Which By Their Very Utterance Inflict Injury": The Evolving Treatment of Inherently Dangerous Speech in Free Speech Law and Theory, 36 Pepp. L. Rev. 217 (2008).  

The First Amendment, Journalists, and Sources: A Curious Study in “Reverse Federalism", 29 CARDOZO LAW REVIEW 1423 (2008)  

Contemplating the Meaning of “The Rule of Law", 42 U. RICH. L. REV. 1 (2007)  

Lawyer Advertising and the Dignity of the Profession, 59 Arkansas Law Review 437 (2006). 

Content and Context: The Contributions of William Van Alstyne to First Amendment Interpretation, 54 Duke Law Journal 1623 (2005). 

The “Do-Not-Call List” Controversy: A Parable of Privacy and Speech, 38 Creighton Law Review 743 (2005) (James L. Koley Lecture). 

Restoring Reason and Civility to the Judicial Section Process, 39 University of Richmond Law Review 793 (2005). 

A Call to Leadership: The Future of Race Relations in Virginia, 39 University of Richmond Law Review 25 (2004). 

Free the Fortune 500!  The Debate over Corporate Speech and the First Amendment, 54 Case Western Reserve Law Review 1277 (2004). 

Nineteen Rules to Dean By, 36 University of Toledo Law Review 183 (2004).  (Leadership in Legal Education Symposium)

New York Times v. Sullivan: Core Doctrine Likely to Hold, 22 Communications Lawyer 11 (2004 No. 3). 

Chief Justice Harry L. Carrico and the Ideal of Judicial Independence, 38 University of Richmond Law Review 571 (2004). 

Assassination, the War on Terrorism, and the Constitution, 37 University of Richmond Law Review 663 (2003). 

The First Amendment and the New Civil Liability, 88 University of Virginia Law Review 919 (2002). 

Accounting for the Slow Growth of American Privacy Law, 27 Nova Southeastern University Law Review 289 (2002) (Goodwin Professor Lecture).  

Terrorism and the Bill of Rights, 10 William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 552 (2002). 

The Puffery of Lawyers, 36 University of Richmond Law Review 1 (2002). 

Information as Contraband: The First Amendment and Liability for Trafficking in Speech, 96 Northwestern University Law Review 1099 (2002). 

From Hit Man to Encyclopedia of Jihad: How to Distinguish Freedom of Speech from Terrorist Training, 22 Loyola Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review 479 (2002). 

What Passes for Policy and Proof in First Amendment Litigation, 34 University of Richmond Law Review  1095 (2001). 

Should the Brandenburg v. Ohio Incitement Test Apply in Media Violence Cases?  27 N.Ky.L.Rev. 1 (2000). 

Qualified Intimacy, Celebrity, and the Case for a Newsgathering Privilege, 33 U. of Richmond L. Rev. 1233 (2000). 

Privacy and the First Amendment Right to Gather News, 67 George Washington Law Review 1097 (1999). 

The Constitutionality of Mandatory Public School Service Programs, 62 Law & Contemporary Problems 113 Duke Law School (1999). 

From Paparazzi to Hidden Cameras: The Aggressive Side of a Free and Responsible Press, 3 Comm.L. Policy 215-29 (1998). 

Free Exercise of Religion After the Fall: The Case for Intermediate Scrutiny, 39 William and Mary Law Review 925 (1998). 

Will Tabloid Journalism Ruin the First Amendment for the Rest of Us? 9 DePaul Journal of Arts and Entertainment Law 1 (1998). 

The Culture of Regulation, 5 ComLaw Conspectus No. 2, 193-202 (Summer 1997).  

Mock Arguments in Clinton v. Jones, 5 William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 249-262 (1997). 

The Ghosts of Homer Plessy, 12 Georgia State L. Rev. 1037 (1996). 

The Trial of Oliver Wendell Holmes, 36 William and Mary L. Rev. 1 (October 1994) 173-233. 

Information, Imagery, and the First Amendment: A Case for Expansive Protection of Commercial Speech, 71 Texas L. Rev. 777 (1993). 

Perspectives on the World's Search for Stable Democracy, 1 William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 177 (1993). 

Limitations on Family Size: Potential Pressures on the Rights of Privacy and Procreation, 1 William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 47 (1992). 

Harlot's Ghost and JFK: A Fictional Conversation with Norman Mailer, Oliver Stone, Earl Warren, and Hugo Black, 26 Suffolk Law Review 587 (1992). 

Affirmative Action in the Marketplace of Ideas, 44 Arkansas Law Review 935 (1991). 

Exercises in the Regulation of Hate Speech, 32 William and Mary Law Review 207 (1991). 

The Bill of Rights at 200 Years: Bicentennial Perspectives, 31 William and Mary Law Review 241 (1990).  

Preserving the Bill of Rights in the Modern Administrative-Industrial State, 31 William and Mary Law Review 321 (1990). 

Academic Freedom, Hate Speech, and the Idea of a University, 53 Law and Contemporary Problems 195 (1990). 

Rethinking First Amendment Assumptions About Racist and Sexist Speech, 47 Washington and Lee Law Review 171 (1990). 

A Defense of the Annenberg Libel Reform Proposal, 7 Communications Lawyer Number 1, 3 (1989). 

Emotional Distress and the First Amendment: An Analysis of Hustler v. Falwell, 20 Arizona State Law Journal 423 (1988). 

The Ollie North, Bob Bork, Bye, Bye, Bye Centennial Blues, 5 Constitutional Commentary 54 (1988). 

Propaganda, Xenophobia, and the First Amendment, 67 Oregon Law Review 253 (1988). 

Dun & Bradstreet, Hepps, and Liberty Lobby:  A New Analytic Primer on the Future Course of Defamation, 75 Georgetown Law Journal 1519 (1987). 

Taking Libel Reform Seriously, 38 Mercer Law Review 793 (1987). 

Politics and Due Process Don't Mix: Should the State Claims Commission be Abolished?  1986 Arkansas Law Notes 43. 

In Pursuit of Racial Utopias:  Fair Housing, Quotas, and Goals in the 1980's, 58 Southern California Law Review 947 (1985) (reprinted in Yearbook of Construction Articles (1986)). 

"Where Have You Gone, Walter Cronkite?" The First Amendment and the End of Innocence, 39 Arkansas Law Review 211 (1985). 

Prison Overcrowding and the Courts:  A Roadmap for the 1980s, 1984 University of Illinois Law Review 389. 

What Types of Losses Are Recoverable Under Arkansas's Products Liability Law? 1984 Arkansas Law Notes 11. 

The Erosion of the Principle that the Government Must Follow Its Own Rules, 52 Fordham Law Review 472 (1984). 

Bring Back the Legislative Veto:  A Proposal for a Constitutional Amendment, 37 Arkansas Law Review 509 (1984). 

Let the Author Beware: The Rejuvenation of the American Law of Libel, 132 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1 (1983). 

Intertwining the Constitution and the Common Law:  Evolving Doctrines of Defamation in Arkansas, 1983 Arkansas Law Notes 49. 

The Future of Defamation in Illinois After Colsen v. Steig and Chapski v. The Copley Press, Inc., 32 DePaul Law Review 219 (1983). 

The Reemergence of the Right-Privilege Distinction in Constitutional Law:  The Price of Protesting Too Much, 35 Stanford Law Review 69 (1982). 

The Displacement of Federal Due Process Claims by State Tort Remedies:  Parratt v. Taylor and Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Company, 1982 University of Illinois Law Review 831. 

Integration Maintenance:  The Unconstitutionality of Benign Programs that Discourage Black Entry to Prevent White Flight, 1981 Duke Law Journal 891. 

Book Reviews

Book Review, The Origins of the Bill of Rights (Leonard W. Levy), William and Mary Quarterly, October 2000, at 891-93. 

Book Review, How Free Should Speech Be?, review of  Free Speech in the College Community, by Robert T. O'Neil, in Planning for Higher Education, p. 25, Fall 1997. 

Book Review, Summer of the Gods, by Edward J. Larson, New York Times Book Review (October 6, 1997). 

Reagan's Friend in Court, Review of Order and Law, by Charles Fried, New York Times Book Review (May 19, 1991). 

Newspapers, Website, Magazines, and other general media

Free Speech Does A Body Good: Restrictions on Pill Data Choke Off Valuable Information, 32, #16 Legal Times (April 20, 2009). 

Could Congress End the War In Irag by Invoking the War Powers Resolution of 1973? The Huffington Post, June 5, 2007.  

Cornerstone Principles: Rule of Law Helps Maximize Freedom,  Stability, Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 8, 2007, at E3.  

The Billion-Dollar Battle Between Viacom and Google: Commericalization of User-Gernerated Content and Copyright Protections Afforded to Parody, Thomson / West White Paper Series, June 2007.  

Not So Free Speech, Legal Affairs Magazine (Jan. / Feb. 2005). 

The Best Defense: Prosecutors are from Neptune,
Defense Attorneys are from Pluto, Slate Magazine, November 2, 2005. 

The Life of Privilege, Slate Magazine, March 18 2005. 

River City Should Honor Its Native Son, Undervalued Hero, Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 18, 2005. 

Prosecuted, Not Persecuted: Why a Muslim scholar probably crossed the First Amendment line, Slate Magazine, July 27, 2005. 

American System Requires Sunshine, Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 13, 2005. 

You Say Napster, I say Grokster:  What Do You Do When Technology Outpaces the Law? Slate Magazine, December 13, 2004. 

Ten:  Why the Ten Commandments Make for Such Messy Law, Slate Magazine, October 15, 2004 (reprinted on May 2, 2005). 

Cross Burning: Virginia v. Black, in “A Year at the Supreme Court” Neal Devins and Davison M. Douglas, Editors (Duke University Press 2004).  

Blinding Justices: Does the Constitution Allow Us to Scrap the Courts? Slate Magazine, November 4, 2003. 

The Paladin Case and the Limits of Protection for Violent Speech, in Violence and the Media, The First Amendment Center, 33-37 (2001). 

Virginia Court Undercut Fair Housing, Roanoke Tmes, January 20, 2000. 

Prayer Has No Place in Public Schools: Ideals of Religious Freedom Hurt by Two Virginia Measures, Norfolk Virginian Pilot, Sunday, March 19, 2000. 

First Amendment Vouchers May Pass Muster, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, October 18, 1999. 

Court Holds Reporter in Contempt for Publishing Sealed Settlement Materials, 1999 The First Amendment and the Media 129 (1999). 

Court Permits Suit to Go Forward in “Natural Born Killers” Case, 1999 The First Amendment and the Media 113 (1999). 

The Fact - Opinion Distinction Since Milkovich, Libel Defense Resource Center Libel Survey 1999.  

Impeachment The Richmond Times-Dispatch December 1999. 

Restoring Religious Freedom, Richmond Times Dispatch, February 2, 1998. 

Free Air Time for Candidates and the First Amendment, The Media Institute (1998). 

The Poor Image of the Profession and the Ethical Pressures on the Modern Lawyer, Journal of Social Responsibility: Business, Journalism, Law, Medicine vol. XXIII, p. 42 (1997). 

Last in War, Peace, and the Supreme Court, Review of Exiled in the Land of the Free by Oren Lyons, et al., New York Times Sunday Book Review (April 11, 1993). 

Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.: The Story of a Landmark Libel Case, Book Review in Trial Magazine, (January 1993). 

Freedom of Speech for Libraries and Librarians, Law Library Journal, vol. 85, no. 1, (Winter 1993). 

Virginia Puts the First Amendment on Trial, in Virginia and the Constitution (1992). 

A First Amendment Defense of Pornography, The World & I (December 1992). 

The Government as Speaker and Government Funding of Expression, in Visions of the First Amendment for a New Millennium (1992). 

At Issue: Does Media Coverage Influence the Outcome of Judicial Decisions? ABA Journal (October 1992). 

Making Space for the Foulest of Satire, in Essential Liberty: First Amendment Battles for a Free Press, Columbia University School of Journalism (1992). 

Drawing Lines: Logic and Language Can Help When Separating Private from Public Information, Presstime (November 1992). 

The First Amendment and the Virtues of an Open Society, in A Time for Choices, Published by The First Amendment Congress (1991). 

When a Quote is Not a Quote, Trial Magazine (January 1991). 

Flynt and Brimstone (1991) (play). 

The Bill of Rights, the Courts, and the Law, (Case Abridgments and Commentary by A.E. Dick Howard, Robert M. O'Neil, Josephine Pachecco, Rodney A. Smolla, and Melvin Urofsky) (Published by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, 1991). 

Hustler Magazine v. Jerry Falwell, in Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court (1991). 

What Content Restrictions Can Congress Place on NEA Grants, 77 American Bar Association Journal 37 (June 1991). 

Legacy: A Conversation with James Madison, 77 American Bar Association Journal 50 (August 1991). 

When Money Talks: Corporate Campaign Expenditures and the First Amendment, in 1991 Free Speech Yearbook. 

Cohen Decision Offers "Great Potential for Mischief" from Disgruntled Sources, The Bulletin, American Society of Newspaper Editors, at 24 (October 1991)  

Private Discrimination and the Constitution, in Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (1990). 

Specialist Advertising and the First Amendment, Trial Magazine (August 1990). 

Grand Jury Secrecy, Trial Magazine (July 1990). 

A Better Way to Repair Press Breaches, 11 Legal Times (February 6, 1989). 

A Streamlined, Rational Way to Handle Libel Disputes, Chicago Tribune (January 2, 1989). 

Free Speech Afire With Controversy, 25 Trial Magazine (December 1989). 

Reform Libel Law?  Yes, 75 American Bar Association Journal 41 (April 1989). 

Beware the Charge of Seditious Conspiracy, San Francisco Banner Daily Journal, (March 30, 1988). 

Foreword: Littlewood, Coals of Fire:  The Alton Telegraph Case, Southern Illinois University Press (1988). 

Foreword: Libel Defense Resource Center 50-State Survey, (1988). 

A Worthy Tradition, American Bar Association Journal, (February 1988). 

A Reporter's Guide to the Law of Defamation in Arkansas Media Law Handbook (1987). 

A Little South of the Law, Southern Magazine (October 1987). 

The First Liberty:  Religion and the American Republic, 4 Constitutional Commentary 204 (1987).  

One Judge, One Vote -- The Burger Years, The New York Times Book Review (June 21, 1987). 

Freedom of Speech Must Apply to All, Arkansas Gazette (May 27, 1987). 

Zechariah Chafee, Jr.:  Defender of Liberty and Law, Academe (May-June 1987). 

How Should We Celebrate the Constitution?, New York Times (January 25, 1987). 

A Chilling Effect, Trial Magazine, (December 1987). 

Integration Maintenance:  A Constitutional and Statutory Analysis, Issues in Housing Discrimination, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, vol. I (1986). 

Defamation in the Workplace, ABA TIPS (1986). 

New Perspectives on Defamation, 25 Free Speech Yearbook 157 (1986). 

Why Has the Media Become a Litigation Target and What's to be Done?, in Media Insurance and Risk Management (1985). 

Self-Love and Libel, The Washington Monthly (November 1983). 

Fiction

“When the Thunders Awfully Roar” – The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr (2006).  (play scheduled for performance in Richmond in 2007, marking 200th anniversary of trial)

The Trial of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1994) (play). 

Report of the Coalition for a New America: Platform Section on Communications Policy, 1993 Univ. of Chicago Legal Forum 149 (1993). 

The Supreme Court and the Temple of Doom:  A Short Story, 2 Constitutional Commentary 41 (1985).