Background
O'Neil, Robert Marchant was born on October 16, 1934 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Walter George and Isabel Sophia (Marchant) O'N.
( The First Amendment and Civil Liability Robert M. O’Ne...)
The First Amendment and Civil Liability Robert M. O’Neil A well-known First Amendment advocate explains the new threats to free expression posed by damage suits. This book explores a highly contentious set of issues involving freedom of speech and press. Until very recently, publishers and producers have assumed that, with a few exceptions like libel, freedom of expression was absolute and safe from civil liability in the form of damage awards. In the late 1990s, these complacent assumptions were sharply challenged. The case of the Hit-Man Manual signaled the shift. After a hired assassin had been convicted of a brutal murder in a Washington, D.C. suburb, it turned out he had used a book that contained graphic, detailed instructions on how to carry out an execution. When the family of the victims sued the publisher for wrongful death, a federal appeals court ruled that the book was "not protected speech" since its apparent purpose was "to facilitate murder." The publisher was thus, for the first time, potentially liable for criminal acts committed by a reader of one of its books. Later cases, especially a suit against Natural Born Killers’ producer Oliver Stone, have invoked this ruling in seeking to impose liability on those who create and distribute material that causes others to inflict injury or death. Noted First Amendment scholar Robert M. O’Neil looks at seven areas where free expression is now at risk of incurring civil liability—libel and slander (including a separate analysis of libel on the Internet), privacy (paparazzi and others who intrude), defective or dangerous "products," incitement (the claim of a link between speech and criminal acts, as in the Natural Born Killers case), advertising, news-gathering (for example, the Food Lion/ABC Primetime Live case,) and threats and incitement on the Internet (as in the anti-abortion Nuremberg website case.) O’Neil’s clear exposition and analysis illuminate the issues for a broad range of readers concerned about a host of new threats to, and the limits of, free expression.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0253340330/?tag=2022091-20
( "This is an engaging and highly readable discussion of ...)
"This is an engaging and highly readable discussion of the intricacies of First Amendment jurisprudence as it is applied to the college campus." —The Law and Politics Book Review "Lucidly written, the book can be read and understood by many audiences from student organizations to board members.... Essential for all college and university libraries." —Choice "A pragmatic, libertarian-minded, and well-informed legal handbook for the First Amendment on campus..." —Kirkus Reviews "... the most comprehensive and thorough examination of campus speech available today." —Harvard Educational Review "Bob O’Neil has produced the seminal work on First Amendment freedoms on our university campuses. He has brought scolarship, clear thinking and clean prose to a book of critical importance to all of us." —Bruce W. Sanford "Robert O’Neil has long been one of the brightest stars in the complex and controversial arena of freedom of expression. And he has never shined brighter and with more incisive clarity than with his new work, Free Speech in the College Community." —Richar A. Roth, Trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Freedom of Expression "This is the first integrated discussion of the fascinating free speech issues that pertain to teachers and students. It is an unusually informative, vivid and balanced treatment and an absolute must read for all academics and students." —Norman Dorsen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union "Free Speech in the College Community is a very timely book written by a dedicated scholar of the First Amendment. Challenging and readable it should be studied by all academicians, students, legislators and lawyers." —Nancy Kassebaum Baker, United States Senator (retired) All of today’s "hot-button" issues are dealt with in this timely book, from Holocaust denial to claims of racial determination of intelligence to hate speech. Former college president Robert O’Neil dramatically illustrates the many types of problems that confront university administrators, frequently using representative fictional characters and discourse to present the situations. ÂFree Speech in the College Community illustrates the many problems that now confront universities by questioning whether or not speech on campus should be freer than speech on the streets. Join the Web debate about free speech on campus: http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/freespeech
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0253332672/?tag=2022091-20
law educator university administrator
O'Neil, Robert Marchant was born on October 16, 1934 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Walter George and Isabel Sophia (Marchant) O'N.
AB, Harvard University, 1956. AM, Harvard University, 1957. Bachelor of Laws, Harvard University, 1961.
Doctor of Laws, Beloit College, 1985. Doctor of Laws, Indiana University, 1987.
Law clerk to Justice William J. Brennan Junior, Supreme Court of the United States Court, 1962-1963; acting associate professor of law, University of California-Berkeley, 1963-1966; professor, University of California-Berkeley, 1966-1967, 69-72; executive assistant to president, professor of law, State University of New York-Buffalo, 1967-1969; provost, professor of law, University Cincinnati, 1972-1973; executive vice president, professor of law, University Cincinnati, 1973-1975; vice president, professor of law, Indiana U., Bloomington, 1975-1980; president, University of Wisconsin System, 1980-1985; professor of law, University of Wisconsin -Madison, 1980-1985; professor of law, University Virginia, Charlottesville, since 1985; president, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1985-1990; general counsel, American Association of University Professors, 1970-1972, 91-92.
( "This is an engaging and highly readable discussion of ...)
( The First Amendment and Civil Liability Robert M. O’Ne...)
Trustee Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association. Board directors Commonwealth Fund, Fort James Corporation, Station WVPT Public television, American Law Institute.
Married Karen Elizabeth Elson, June 18, 1967. Children— Elizabeth, Peter, David, Benjamin.