James Olmsted broke the law when he confronted students in the EMU amphitheater during a mock border checkpoint exercise. His language, although described as aggressive by some witnesses, was protected under state and federal law. Here are a few laws that protected Olmsted’s speech in the moments leading up to the altercation.

Article 1, Section 8. Oregon Constitution allows you to freely express your opinions in public including protests, demonstrations, book readings, campaign events and petitioning.

State of Oregon v. Henry is a Oregon Supreme Court ruling that laws criminalizing obscenity violate Oregon’s freedom of speech provision. Obscenity is protected under Oregon Constitution (Article 1, Section 8).

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy is a common law test for a persons fourth amendment right to privacy; the expectation of privacy generally recognized by society does not include public places such as a college campus. Allows people to photograph you in a public place without your consent as long as it is not for commercial use and passes the four privacy torts:

• Intrusion of privacy vs. consent
• Disclosure of private facts vs. newsworthiness
• Painted in a false light (defamation) vs. proof of actual malice
• Appropriation of one’s likeness (photographed in public place) vs. consent & newsworthiness