Where do our modern notions of free speech come from? A new book goes back to 1919.
For this week's pod extra, we feature a conversation from WNYC'S Brian Lehrer Show. Brian talked with Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone, editors of The Free Speech Century, a collection of essays by leading scholars, marking 100 years since the Supreme Court issued the three decisions that established the modern notion of free speech.
Whether it’s fake news or money in politics, we’re still arguing over the First Amendment, and their book lays out the origins of the argument just after the first World War.
Tag: first amendment
🎧 O See, Can You Say | On the Media | WNYC Studios
The anonymous op-ed, the Kavanaugh hearings, decorum, civility, and the freedom to speak.
Between the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill and an anonymous op-ed from within the Trump White House, a wave of rule-bending and -breaking has crashed on Washington. This week, we explore how political decorum and popular dissent have evolved since the early days of our republic — and how the legal protections for those core freedoms could transform our future.
1. Brooke and Bob on how best to cover the anonymous op/ed written by a "senior official in the Trump administration." Listen.
2. Geoffrey Stone, professor of law at University of Chicago, on our evolving — and occasionally faulty — interpretations of the first amendment. And, Laura Weinrib, professor of law at University of Chicago, on how early-20th century labor struggles gave birth to our modern ideas about freedom of speech. Listen.
3. Tim Wu [@superwuster], professor of law at Columbia University, on how the first amendment could inform new regulations for Silicon Valley. Listen.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: Cracking Down on Leaks | New York Times
For a year and a half, President Trump has threatened to crack down on leaks and leakers.
The seizure of emails and phone records from a reporter at The New York Times tells a great deal about what that might look like.
On today’s episode:
• Matt Apuzzo, a reporter for The Times in Washington who had his records subpoenaed during the Obama administration.
Background reading:
• Federal prosecutors seized years of email and phone records from Ali Watkins, a New York Times reporter.
• President Trump wants better press, and he’s blaming leaks for not getting it.
• From 2012: The Obama administration used the Espionage Act to pursue leak cases.