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Holocaust Denial Act Case Study

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MEMORANDUM
TO: Mr. Newman
FROM: Michael Robertson
Date: 12/7/16
RE: Will Mannon, First Amendment, Holocaust Denial Act.

STATEMENT OF FACTS Our client, Will Mannon, is being prosecuted for violating the Mississippi Holocaust Denial Act which makes it a misdemeanor for anyone on state property to deny the historical account of the Nazi Holocaust of the 1930’s and 1940’s. The statute cites the “extreme distress inflicted on large swaths of the state’s population when the atrocities of the Holocaust are publicly dismissed.” Mannon was videotaped last spring giving a lecture on the campus on The University of Northern Mississippi in which he repeatedly described accounts of the Holocaust as “hogwash.” Our client believes the entire statute violates the First Amendment of the federal Constitution. The state of Mississippi (acting through the State Attorney General), however, asserts that falsehoods are not protected speech because the law permits citizens, despite the first amendment, to sue for defamation (libel or slander) when a defendant spreads vicious lies about the plaintiff.

QUESTION PRESENTED Does the Mississippi Holocaust Denial Act violate the …show more content…
Alvarez, 132 S. Ct. 2537, 183 L.Ed.2d 574, 80 USLW 4634 (2012). The case was based off the Stolen Valor Act. This Act made it a crime to falsely claim to have received any military decoration or medals, and a stronger penalty if the accusation included the Congressional Medal of Honor. In the end, the case reached up to the United States Supreme Court, which held that the Stolen Valor Act was in violation of the First Amendment. The reasoning of the court’s decision was, “[A]s a general matter, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.” id. Unless it is a different speech, such as speaking under oath. Which then if one is to lie under oath, they will be guilty of

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