Bob Corn-Revere has extensive experience in First Amendment law and communications, media and information technology law. He regularly counsels clients and serves as litigation counsel in communications and Internet-related matters. Bob speaks and writes extensively on First Amendment and communications policy issues.
Bob also successfully petitioned Governor George E. Pataki to grant the first posthumous pardon in New York history, to the late comedian Lenny Bruce in a landmark pro bono case. Read the pardon petition.
Representative clients include: A&E Television Networks, American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers, American Advertising Federation, CBS Corporation, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, ICM Registry, LodgeNet, Inc., Mark Burnett Productions, Motion Picture Association of America, Texas Entertainment Association, and Viacom.
Selected Experience
CBS Corp. v. FCC
Represents CBS Corporation in a successful challenge of the FCC's indecency finding and $550,000 forfeiture penalty levied against CBS for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show featuring Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. (3d Cir., U.S. Ongoing)
Fox Television Stations v. FCC and ABC, Inc. v. FCC
Represents CBS Corporation in a consolidated appeal challenging the FCC’s application of broadcast indecency rules to “fleeting expletives” in live awards shows and brief nudity in the program NYPD Blue. 07-582 (U.S. Ongoing)
Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association
Submitted amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to find that California law restricting sale or rental of “violent” video games to minors violates the First Amendment. Citing the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) amicus brief, the Supreme Court held 7-2 that the law is unconstitutional. Read the amicus brief. (U.S. 2011)
Snyder v. Phelps
Submitted amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to decide that intrusion and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims cannot be based solely on the publication of offensive opinions about matters of public concern. The Court agreed, ruling 8-1 that the speech at issue is protected by the First Amendment. Read the amicus brief. (U.S. 2011)
Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc.
Submitted amicus brief in support of First Amendment rights of marketers and advertisers against Vermont statute requiring "opt-in" for any use of prescriber-identifiable data regarding prescription drug information. The Court held 6-3 that the state cannot restrict commercial speech for being too persuasive. Read the amicus brief. (U.S. 2011)
United States v. Stevens
Co-counsel for respondent in case challenging the constitutionality of a federal law prohibiting depictions of "animal cruelty." The Court ruled 8-1 that the law violates the First Amendment. (U.S. 2009)
United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc.
Represented Playboy Entertainment Group in a successful challenge to a provision of the Telecommunications Act that restricted programming on sexually-oriented cable television networks. This case established that cable networks are fully protected by the First Amendment. (U.S.)
Ashcroft v. ACLU
Submitted an amicus brief in case challenging the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act. The Supreme Court held that the Act violates the First Amendment. (U.S.)
Reno v. ACLU
Submitted an amicus brief in case challenging the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act. The Supreme Court held that the Act violates the First Amendment, and that the Internet receives full constitutional protection. Read the amicus brief. (U.S.)
Berger v. City of Seattle
Represented appellant in successful First Amendment challenge to restrictions on use of the public forum in the Seattle Center, a multipurpose cultural and entertainment venue. (9th Cir. 2009) (en banc)
Huminski v. Corsones
Pro bono counsel for plaintiff in a case holding, for the first time, that individual members of the public have a First Amendment right to attend court proceedings. 396 F.3d 53 (2d Cir. 2006)
Mainstream Marketing Services, Inc. v. FTC
Lead counsel in litigation challenging the constitutionality of the national "do-not-call" telemarketing regulation. (10th Cir. 2004)
Motion Picture Association of America v. FCC
Represented the Motion Picture Association of America, the National Association of Broadcasters, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association in successful challenge to FCC rules imposing mandates for video description of television programming. (D.C. Cir. 2002)
Mainstream Loudoun v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Public Library
Lead counsel in which the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia held that mandatory content filtering of public library Internet terminals violates the First Amendment. (E.D. Va. 1998)
Speeches and Lectures
“Developments in Student Speech and the First Amendment – The Importance of Being Earnest (or at Least Serious),” Campus Freedom Network Conference Keynote, Bryn Mawr, Pa., 7.15.11
"The High Value of Low Speech," Reason Foundation Weekend, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 04.15.11
“Controlling Speech by Proxy: Free Expression in the Cloud and the Role of Intermediaries,” Copyright Society of the USA Keynote, Santa Fe, N.M., 2.5.11
"The First Amendment and the End of History: Does Media Convergence Mean the End of Regulation or Is It Just the Beginning?" The Tullock Lecture with Big Ideas About Information, George Mason University School of Law, 04.05.10
"The Kids Are Alright: Violent Media, Free Expression, and the Drive to Regulate," 2007 Silha Lecture; University of Minnesota - School of Journalism and Mass Communication, 10.01.07
Testimony
"Speech, Democratic Engagement, and the Open Internet," Federal Communications Commission Workshop, 12.15.09
“The Universal Service Obligation of the U.S. Postal Service and the Postal Monopoly,” Hearing before the Postal Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 07.10.08
Testimony, Hearings on FCC Enforcement of the Broadcast Indecency Standard, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 01.28.04
Hearings on The Public Interest Obligations of Local Broadcast Licensees, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, 07.23.03
Broadcast Ownership En Banc Hearing, Federal Communications Commission, 02.27.03
Hearings on Children’s Television Programming and Public Interest Obligations of TV Broadcast Licensees, Federal Communications Commission, 10.16.00
Hearings on Carnivore and the Internet, Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary United States House of Representatives, 07.24.00
Hearings Before the Children’s Online Protection Act (COPA) Commission, Legal and Policy Implications of “Cyberzoning”, 06.08.00
Hearing on the Fourth Amendment and the Internet, Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary United States House of Representatives, 03.06.00
Hearings on the White House, the Networks and TV Censorship, Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the Committee on Commerce, United States House of Representatives, 02.09.00
Hearing on S. 876, The Children’s Protection from Violent Programming Act, Subcommittee on Communications Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, 05.18.99
Selected Presentations
"New Developments in Section 230 Immunity and the DMCA Safe Harbor: A Discussion of Legal Issues for Experienced Internet Counsel (and Those Who Want to Be)," Davis Wright Tremaine presentation, Washington, D.C., 05.10.11
Moderator, "Network Neutrality and the First Amendment," Kansas Bar Association Media Seminar, Kansas City, Mo., 5.6.11
Moderator, "The Supreme Court, the First Amendment, and the FCC," Federal Communications Bar Association and Freedom Forum Seminar, Washington, D.C., 5.5.11
Panelist, "The FCC and Content Regulation – Still Hitched After All These Years, or is it Time for a Divorce?" ABA/NAB/FCBA Seminar on Representing Your Local Broadcaster, Las Vegas, 4.10.11
Presenter, "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission," CLE program, CBS, New York, N.Y. 2.17.11
Panelist, "First Amendment Implications of Citizens United v. FEC and Snyder v. Phelps," Symposium: Media and the Law in Changing Times, Kansas Bar Association and Kansas Association of Broadcasters, Wichita, Kan., 10.13.10
Panelist, "United States v. Stevens and Unprotected Categories of Speech," Symposium on Animal Law, DePaul University School of Law, Chicago, 9.30.10
Panel Speaker, "Can Government Help Save the Press?" The Progress & Freedom Foundation, Washington, D.C., 05.20.10
Presenter, 2010 Milton Sorokin Symposium on the Future of Journalism, University of Connecticut School of Law, 4.12.10
"New Technologies and the First Amendment," Federal Communications Bar Association Forum, Newseum, Washington, D.C., 03.31.10
Panelist, "Entertainment, Celebrity, and the Law," Harvard University School of Law, 11.20.09
"Mission Impossible? Protecting Kids and Free Speech Online," Family Online Safety Institute's 2008 Annual Conference, 12.23.08
Panelist, Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics Workshop on the Right of Publicity for College Athletes, National Press Club, Washington, D.C., 10.27.08
Panelist, "Cinematic Liberty & the First Amendment: The Story of the Burstyn Case (1952)," Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, Washington, D.C., 9.15.08
Moderator, "Indecency & Violence in the Media: FCC v. Pacifica Thirty Years Later" Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, Washington, D.C., 6.26.08
FIRE in Action: Valdosta State University, 03.03.08
Featured Speaker, FCC v. Free Speech – A Discussion on the FCC’s Power to Limit the Freedom of Speech Within the Media, New York Law School, New York, N.Y., 2.27.08
Moderator, "Free Speech in Wartime," Rutgers-Camden School of Law, 1.17.05
Books
"Freedom of Speech and Content Regulation on the Internet," Internet Law and Regulation (Treatise Chapter), Pike & Fischer, Inc., 2010
"Implementing a Flag Desecration Amendment to the U.S. Constitution," Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, 07.01.05
"Caught in the Seamless Web: Does the Internet’s Global Reach Justify Less Freedom of Speech?" Who Rules the Net?, Adam Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews, editors, 2003
Zuckman, Corn-Revere, Frieden and Kennedy, Modern Communications Law, West Group, 1999
"Economics and Media Regulation," Media Economics, Alison Alexander, James Owers and Rod Carveth, editors, Third edition, 2004
Rationales & Rationalizations – Regulating the Electronic Media, Corn-Revere, editor, 1997
"Lost on the Infobahn Without a Map: The Need for a Coherent First Amendment Approach," Toward a Competitive Telecommunication Industry, Gerald Brock, editor, 1995
Scholarly Articles
"Moral Panics, the First Amendment, and the Limits of Social Science," Communications Lawyer, Vol. 28, No. 3, American Bar Association, November 2011
“United States Media Policy and the Global Information Revolution,” Platforma Democratica, July 2011
"Regulating Media Content in an Age of Abundance," Communications Lawyer, Vol. 27, No. 3, American Bar Association, September 2010
"Fairness 2.0: Media Content Regulation in the 21st Century," Policy Analysis No. 651, Cato Institute, 11.10.09
"FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.: Awaiting the Next Act," Cato Supreme Court Review, 09.21.09
“Narrow Issue of Taxpayer Standing Highlights Wide Divisions Among the Justices,” Cato Supreme Court Review, 2007
“Can Broadcast Indecency Regulations be Extended to Cable Television and Satellite Radio?” 30 Southern Ill. Univ. L. Rev. 243, Winter 2006
“Ashcroft v. ACLU II: The Beat Goes On,” Cato Supreme Court Rev. 299, 2004
"Regulating Televised Violence: The FCC’s National Rorschach Test," Communications Lawyer, Vol. 22, No. 3, American Bar Association, 10.01.04
“Avast Ye Wasteland: Reflections on America’s Most Famous Exercise in ‘Public Interest’ Piracy,” Federal Communications Law Journal 101, May 2003
"United States v. American Library Association: A Missed Opportunity for the Supreme Court to Clarify Application of First Amendment Law to Publicly Funded Expressive Institutions," Cato Supreme Court Rev. 105, 2003
“Caught in the Seamless Web: Does the Internet’s Global Reach Justify Less Freedom of Speech?” Cato Institute Briefing Paper No. 71, 07.24.02
“Cyberspace Cases Force Court to Reexamine Basic Assumption of Obscenity and Child Pornography Jurisprudence,” Cato Supreme Court Rev. 115, 2002
"The Public Interest, the First Amendment and a Horse’s Ass," 2000 Mich. St.-Detroit Coll. L. Rev. 165, 2000
Television Violence and the Limits of Voluntarism, 12 Yale J. on Regulation 187, 1995
"New Technology and the First Amendment: Breaking the Cycle of Repression," 17 Hastings Comm/Ent. L. J. 247, 1994
Other Publications
"New Internet Domains Are Coming… What You Should Do," Media Law Monitor, Davis Wright Tremaine, September 2011
"Supreme Court Affirms Invalidation of California Restrictions on Violent Video Games," Media Law Monitor, Davis Wright Tremaine, September 2011
"Supreme Court Invalidates Vermont Law Limiting Data Mining for Pharmaceutical ‘Detailing’," Media Law Monitor, Davis Wright Tremaine, September 2011
"UK Spring: Has Twitter Ended the Reign of the Super Injunction?" BNA Insights, 6.21.11
"Defining Away the First Amendment," Perspectives, The Media Institute, 05.06.10
"The First Amendment, the Internet & Net Neutrality: Be Careful What You Wish For," Progress on Point 16.28, The Progress & Freedom Foundation
"At Risk: The Freedom to Discuss Controversial Topics," Davis Wright Tremaine Pro Bono Report, December 2009
"The Public Interest and the First Amendment Tightrope," ABA Forum on Communications Law, 04.13.08
"The FCC's Television Violence Report - A Conclusion in Search of an Analysis," Freedom Forum Online Symposium, 05.01.07
"Two-Year Moratorium on Drug Advertising Raises Constitutional Red Flags," Media Institute, 04.27.07
"Judge Alito and First Amendment Protection for Sexual Expression," Freedom Forum Online Symposium, 11.10.05
"Michigan Court of Appeals Holds That Televised Nudity is Public Indecency," Media Law Resource Center Bulletin, 06.01.05
"Championing the First Amendment," Legal Times, 05.02.05
"Can Broadcast Indecency Regulations be Extended to Cable Television and Satellite Radio?" Progress & Freedom Foundation Report, 05.01.05
"Stemming the Tide: Can the FCC’s Anti-Indecency Crusade be Extended to Cable Television and Satellite Radio?" Media Law Resource Center Bulletin, 03.01.05
"Indecent Proposals: Why Most Recent FCC Indecency Crackdown Risks Crossing Center Line into Oncoming First Amendment Showdown," First Amendment Law Letter, Davis Wright Tremaine, Fall 2004 (PDF)
"Cable Networks and the FCC's Political Broadcasting Rules: Time for Clarification," First Amendment Law Letter, Davis Wright Tremaine, Spring 2004 (PDF)
"Do We Fear Freedom?," Legal Times, 12.24.01
"’V’ is Not For Voluntary," Cato Institute Briefing Paper No. 24, 8.3.95