Shenandoah University Professor of Business Law John Winn, J.D., recently authored the article “Weaponizing the First Amendment” (Best Practices for City Managers and Prosecutors) in the spring edition of the North Carolina State Bar Journal. The article addresses so-called “First Amendment Auditing,” a type of social activism that assesses community responses to constitutionally protected video recording in public spaces. Self-identified “independent journalists,” invoking “government transparency” and “police accountability,” film inside post offices, police parking lots, DMV waiting rooms, or other public spaces to provoke police overreach and to generate revenue on social media uploads. Far too often in these situations, undertrained police violate auditor rights, use excessive force, or make unlawful arrests. This inevitably leads to civil rights lawsuits in federal courts.
Dr. Winn’s article has garnered significant attention from law firms involved in municipal insurance and defense. One such firm (Smith Rogers & Aldridge, PLLC) incorporated Winn’s article into future education and client advice with dozens of police and sheriffs’ offices across North Carolina. Faculty scholarship is part of the School of Business’ AACSB (Association for the Advancement of Colleges and Schools of Business) commitment to ensure intellectual contributions contains exemplars of basic, applied, and/or pedagogical research that have a positive societal impact, consistent with the school’s mission. Questions? Contact Winn at jwinn@su.edu.