Last week, I had the pleasure of having my first op-ed published in The New York Times, and I was pleased (and a little surprised) when the letters to the editor that were published the next day were overwhelmingly positive. The op-ed changed a lot during the editing process, evolving from what started as a […]
Archive | First Amendment
Private Religious Colleges and Free Speech
By Greg Lukianoff, guest-blogging on November 1, 2012 10:38 am in First Amendment, Freedom of Association, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
I have been guest blogging this week, and Eugene asked me to reserve some of my posts to respond to reader comments. From the moment that Eugene announced I would be posting, a few commenters have decided that the single most important thing FIRE should actually be fighting is the scourge of censorship-happy Christian colleges. […]
Only a Few Examples of Censorship on Campus?
By Greg Lukianoff, guest-blogging on October 31, 2012 6:10 pm in First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
A few commenters on my latest post for The Volokh Conspiracy have been riffing on the theme that the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE, where I work) is only able to show a few examples of censorship on campus, and therefore it must not be that big of a problem. Here’s my erudite […]
The Reality of College Censorship, Part 2: Speech Codes
By Greg Lukianoff, guest-blogging on October 31, 2012 9:45 am in First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
While the public seems to fondly believe that speech codes are a thing of the past — a bygone product of the “political correctness” movement of the 1980s and 1990s — they are alive and well on the modern college campus. As I explain in Unlearning Liberty, these days, you’re unlikely to open up a student handbook and […]
The Reality of College Censorship, Part 1: Censorpalooza
By Greg Lukianoff, guest-blogging on October 30, 2012 1:00 pm in First Amendment, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
As those of you who read my blog yesterday know, Eugene invited me to be a guest contributor to The Volokh Conspiracy this week in order to discuss some of the issues raised in my recently released book, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate. Yesterday, I described the negative impact that suppressing […]
Free Speech on Campus & ‘Unlearning Liberty’
By Greg Lukianoff, guest-blogging on October 29, 2012 10:00 am in First Amendment, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
Thank you to Eugene for inviting me to guest blog on The Volokh Conspiracy this week. By way of introduction, I am a First Amendment lawyer and the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and my new book, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, hit the bookshelves […]
Bleg on First Amendment offensive speech
I thought it would useful to compile a list of some of the most offensive words, images, etc. which have been held to be protected by the First Amendment. I’m especially interested in Supreme Court cases, but other cases are fine too. So commenters, please submit your nominations. Thanks!
Stolen Valor Act Struck Down
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 28, 2012 10:19 am in First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Knowingly False Statements of Fact
In United States v. Alvarez the Supreme Court has held that the Stolen Valor Act is unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy wrote for the Court, joined by the Chief Justice, and Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor. Justice Breyer, joined by Justice Kagan, concurred in the judgment concluding the law is unconstitutional as written, but also suggesting that a […]
Today’s Supreme Court Opinions
The health care cases were not issued today. They are expected on Thursday. But there are plenty of other significant opinions. Two that are of particular interest to me are America Tradition, Inc. v. Bullock, the Montana campaign finance case, and Arizona v. United States, the Arizona immigration case. The Montana decision is a per […]
ACS Panel on Citizens United
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 16, 2012 11:14 am in Election Law, First Amendment, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses, Uncategorized
This morning I attended a panel at the American Constitution Society conference titled “Citizens United Two Years Later: Money, Politics and Democracy at Stake.” The panel was moderated by Democracy editor Michael Tomasky and featured University of Montana law professor Anthony Johnstone, Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout, longtime campaign finance activist Fred Wertheimer, founder Democracy […]
Citizens United and the Wisconsin Recall
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 12, 2012 7:42 am in Elections, First Amendment, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
In yesterday’s WSJ, Stanford’s Michael McConnell explained why progressives should not blame the Supreme Court’s Citizens United for Governor Walker’s victory over the union-backed recall effort. If anything, Citizens United helped those trying to oust the controversial governor, as unions put far more money into the recall election than did corporations. Governor Walker may have […]
Are Search Engine Providers Like Internet Service Providers?
Today’s NYT reports on the white paper Google commissioned from our host, Eugene (about which Eugene blogged here). I don’t know this area nearly as well as Eugene does, but I found this portion of the article particularly interesting: there is a bit of a rub for Google, some scholars say. The kind of reasoning […]
White on Toobin on Citizens United
Adam White finds Jeffrey Toobin re-writing history in his much discussed New Yorker article on Citizens United. As Toobin set up the story, Citizens United was a little case, involving a “narrow” statutory question. According to Toobin’s New Yorker article, “There did not see to be a lot riding on the outcome.” White finds Toobin’s […]
Jeffrey Toobin on Citizens United
The latest New Yorker has an extensive excerpt of Jeffrey Toobin’s forthcoming book, The Oath: The Obama White House vs. the Supreme Court, focusing on the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. The story, “Money Unlimited: How Chief Justice John Roberts orchestrated the Citizens United decision,” is everything you’d expect from a Toobin piece. It’s engaging […]
George Will on the People’s Rights Amendment
By Ilya Somin on May 5, 2012 5:46 pm in Constitutional Amendments, First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Freedom of Speech
George Will recently published a good Washington Post column on the ill-conceived People’s Rights Amendment, which Eugene Volokh and I blogged about here and here. Will points out several serious flaws in the proposal, and builds on some of the points we made: Controversies can be wonderfully clarified when people follow the logic of illogical […]