The National Constitution Center is launching a multi-year initiative exploring the history and meaning of the First Amendment, anchored by the magnificent 50-ton First Amendment tablet newly installed at the Center overlooking Independence Mall. The giant tablet was previously engraved, fabricated and erected in 2007 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. After the Newseum closed in 2019, the Freedom Forum donated the tablet to the Center.
In conjunction with the initiative, Jeffrey Rosen is joined by First Amendment experts Robert Post and Keith Whittington to discuss the origins of the First Amendment, its importance in American society, and several of the most important Supreme Court cases centering around free speech. Robert Post is a Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School and author of Citizens Divided: A Constitutional Theory of Campaign Finance Reform. Keith Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University and the author of Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech.
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This episode was produced by Melody Rowell and engineered by Greg Scheckler. Research was provided by Kevin Closs, Ruben Aguirre, and Sam Desai.
Participants
Keith E. Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. He has published widely on American constitutional theory, American political and constitutional history, the law and politics of impeachment, judicial politics, the presidency, and free speech. His most recent books are Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present and Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech.
Robert Post is Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He served as the law school's 16th dean from 2009 until 2017. Professor Post specializes in constitutional law, with a particular emphasis on the First Amendment. Post has written and edited numerous books, including Citizens Divided: A Constitutional Theory of Campaign Finance Reform (2014), and For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom (with Matthew M. Finkin, 2009), which has become the standard reference for the meaning of academic freedom in the United States.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Justice Holmes’ dissent in Abrams v. United States (1919)
- Justice Jackson’s opinion in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
- Justice Brandeis’s concurrence in Whitney v. California (1927)
- Listen to Jeff Rosen read the concurrence in full on this episode of FIRE’s podcast “Free Speech Out Loud”
- Justice Douglas’s opinion in Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949)
- Chief Justice Hughes’ opinion in Stromberg v. California (1931)
- Chief Justice Warren’s opinion in Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957)
- Justice Murphy’s opinion in Thornhill v. Alabama (1940)
- Justice Frankfurter’s opinion in Texas v. Johnson (1989)
- Areopagetica by John Milton
- On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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