Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA School of Law. Naturally, his posts here (like the opinions of the other bloggers) are his own, and not endorsed by any institution.
Eugene Volokh
Latest from Eugene Volokh
No Sealing of Plaintiff's Expunged Court Records That Are Central to Plaintiff's Libel Claim
"[T]he fate of Plaintiff's claims hinges to some extent on the truth or falsity of Defendant's statements regarding Plaintiff's conviction of a crime. Whether Defendant's statements are false—a determination that relies at least in part on Plaintiff's criminal records—is directly relevant to the public."
First Circuit Allows Police Officer Pseudonymity in Federal Lawsuit Over "Exculpatory Evidence List" Placement
I had asserted the contrary, arguing that the state allowance of pseudonymity in trying to get removal from the list didn't justify pseudonymity in a federal court lawsuit seeking damages for such placement; but the court disagreed.
Illinois Court Rejects Claim for Group Libel of Poles Living During World War II Era
People may be able to successfully sue based on allegedly false and defamatory statements about themselves, or about very small groups of people that include themselves—but not based on statements about whole countries or ethnic groups.
Plaintiff Professor's Losing Libel Lawsuit May Lead to His Former Lawyers Foreclosing on His Home
(Part of the fees also stemmed from defending against Ohio State's investigating his alleged research misconduct.)
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Freedom of Speech and AI Output," by Profs. Mark Lemley and Peter Henderson and Me
Just published, closing out our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech.
Prof. Michael McConnell, Responding About the Fourteenth Amendment, "Insurrection," and Trump
"We must not forget that we are talking about empowering partisan politicians such as state Secretaries of State to disqualify their political opponents from the ballot, depriving voters of the ability to elect candidates of their choice. If abused, this is profoundly anti-democratic."
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Where's the Liability in Harmful AI Speech?," by …
Profs. Peter Henderson, Tatsunori Hashimoto, and Mark Lemley, just published in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Generative Artificial Intelligence and Trade Secrecy," by Prof. David S. Levine
Just published, in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Journal of Free Speech Law: My "Large Libel Models? Liability for AI Output"
Just published, in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Journal of Free Speech Law: "The European Liability Regime For Large Language Models"
"Is It a Platform? Is It a Search Engine? It's Chat GPT!," by Prof. Beatriz Botero Arcila, just published in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Journal of Free Speech Law: "An AI's Picture Paints a Thousand Lies: Designating Responsibility for Visual Libel,"
by Prof Jon M. Garon, just published in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Bots Behaving Badly: A Products Liability Approach to Chatbot-Generated Defamation,"
by Prof. Nina Brown, just published in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Authorbots," by Profs. Derek E. Bambauer & Mihai Surdeanu
Just published, in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Section 230 Won't Protect ChatGPT," by Prof. Matt Perault
Just published, in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Political Activist Brandon Straka Loses Jan.-6-Related Libel Lawsuit Against NBC
"The material challenged in the plaintiff's complaint cannot be understood by a reasonable person as anything but substantially, if not literally, true."
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Negligent AI Speech: Some Thoughts About Duty," by Prof. Jane Bambauer
Just published, in our symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Speech; more articles from the symposium coming in the next few days.
Alleged "Psychic Intuition" Isn't Enough to Make a Federal Claim "Plausible" Enough to Withstand Dismissal
An allegedly psychic "Internet sleuth" alleged a professor was involved in the University of Idaho student murders; the professor sued; then the "sleuth" countersued.
Video Privacy Protection Act Claim Can Go Forward Against Google Based on Google's Alleged …
disclosure of an elementary school student's YouTube video watching history to the school, which was investigating him for supposed sexual harassment of teacher.
Virginia Court Rejects Retroactive Attempt to Seal Name Change Records
The decision came despite the applicant's objection, ten months after the name change, that the change was needed to prevent "potential endangerment and/or discrimination through publicly disclosed record of the transgender applicant."
Risk of Physical Harm to Woman Involved in Ghislaine Maxwell Litigation May Justify Sealing Her Identity,
holds the Second Circuit, though it leaves it to the trial court to consider the facts further.
Who Can Use Twitter's Offer of Legal Fees "If You Were Unfairly Treated by Your Employer Due to [Tweets]"?
More people than one might imagine, chiefly because many states, counties, and cities have laws that ban private employers from discriminating against their employees based on certain kinds of speech.
College Ban on "Inappropriate or Offense Language or Themes" in Bulletin Board Postings Struck Down
The case involved Young Americans for Freedom postings about "Leftist Ideas" and about abortion.
"Providing Information About or Referring Patients to Legal Out-of-State Abortion Services" Is Protected …
by the First Amendment, even if the abortion would be illegal in the state, holds a federal judge in Idaho.
