Ilya Shapiro joins the show to discuss the fireworks in the Fox/Dominion defamation lawsuit, his recent speaking appearance at the University of Denver, and his “cancel culture nightmare” at Georgetown University. Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. He previously (and briefly) served as executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution and as a vice president at the Cato Institute. Shapiro will speak at ...
Mar 10, 2023•59 min
The seminal 1964 Supreme Court decision in New York Times v. Sullivan limited the ability of public officials to silence their critics by successfully suing them for defamation. Sullivan made “American public officials more accountable, the American media more watchful, and the American people better informed,” said William Rehnquist , the late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But Sullivan is increasingly under attack from politicians, activists, and even sitting Justices of the Supreme Court...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr 3 min
FIRE’s Will Creeley and Aaron Terr join the show to discuss Phoenix, Arizona’s unconstitutional “clean zone” for Super Bowl LVII, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s effort to get public school students to volunteer for her re-election campaign, recent polling on how much people really know about the First Amendment (sadly, not much), and Indiegogo, Kickstarter, and Crowdfundr canceling fundraisers for comic books they deemed politically unacceptable. We also provide an update on the Hamline Universi...
Feb 09, 2023•57 min
What does the rise of artificial intelligence mean for the future of free speech and the First Amendment? Who is liable for what AI produces? Can you own a copyright for works produced by AI? Does AI itself violate intellectual property rights when it uses others’ information to generate content? What about that Morgan Freeman “deep fake” ? And is ChatGPT going to make all of our jobs irrelevant? Show notes: Transcript Guests: Eugene Volokh , professor at UCLA School of Law David Greene , senior...
Jan 26, 2023•1 hr 4 min
A faculty member at Hamline University lost her job. Twelve staffers at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were murdered. And Salman Rushdie was repeatedly stabbed. All of them offended certain people’s religious sensitivities. On today’s show, we are joined by Amna Khalid and Michael Moynihan to discuss the risks and costs of teaching, talking, writing, and creating art about religion, particularly Islam. We also discuss the recent #TwitterFiles reporting. Amna Khalid is an associate p...
Jan 12, 2023•1 hr 23 min
Do Ann Coulter’s words equal “violence”? Does Emerson College care more about not offending the Chinese Communist Party than protecting student free speech rights? And are faculty political litmus tests back in vogue? FIRE’s Alex Morey and Zach Greenberg join the show to discuss the latest in campus censorship. Please support this show by donating to FIRE before the end of the year: thefire.org/support Show notes: Transcript “ San Diego State University: University senate adopts policy imposing ...
Dec 21, 2022•52 min
Hot on the heels of oral argument in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis , FIRE’s Ronnie London and David Hudson join the show to discuss the case, as well as other high profile free speech cases at the Supreme Court this year. Show notes: Transcript Watch the video of the podcast conversation 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis Shurtleff v. City of Boston Kennedy v. Bremerton School District Gonzalez v. Google LLC Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr 7 min
FIRE’s new Director of Public Advocacy Aaron Terr and the Cato Institute’s Will Duffield join the show to discuss a slew of recent free speech news. California gets it right on rap lyrics but wrong on coronavirus misinformation. One Texas school district repeatedly ventures into book banning. LeBron James spreads “hate speech” misinformation. Is government “jawboning” censorship? And, yes, Elon Musk . . . again. Show notes: Transcript Watch the video of the podcast conversation “ VICTORY: After ...
Nov 22, 2022•1 hr 12 min
FIRE’s Will Creeley and Aaron Terr join the show to discuss a slew of recent free speech news: What do we make of Elon Musk buying Twitter? Is PayPal fining its users $2,500 for promoting “misinformation”? Is New York trying to destroy Twitch? And do public employees in Charlottesville, Va., need to shut their mouths to keep their jobs? Also, how’s FIRE’s off-campus expansion going? Show notes: Transcript Open letter to Elon Musk from Greg Lukianoff on preserving free expression on social media ...
Nov 03, 2022•58 min
Do books need a special editor who reads for offensive content? And who gets to decide what’s offensive anyway? This week we are joined by authors Kat Rosenfield and Vesper Stamper to discuss censorial trends in book publishing, including the rise of so-called “sensitivity readers” and the sometimes successful campaigns to get books canceled before they are even published. We also explore adjacent debates: Is it appropriate to write outside of one’s identity or lived experience? And can authors ...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 18 min
Does the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protect a private social media company’s right to moderate content on its platform? A new ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit says it does not, and that a Texas law preventing viewpoint discrimination on social media platforms is constitutional. The issue is likely bound for the Supreme Court, setting up what is arguably the most consequential First Amendment legal case in a half-century. Institute for Free Speech...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 10 min
“Should academic journals appoint themselves social justice gatekeepers?” That is the question journalist and author Jonathan Rauch asks in responding to new ethics guidance from the academic journal Nature Human Behaviour. The journal introduces the guidance by ominously noting that “although academic freedom is fundamental, it is not unbounded.” It then goes on to discuss ways it will restrict publishing research that allegedly harms, stigmatizes, or otherwise “undermines the dignity or rights...
Sep 29, 2022•1 hr 4 min
This Saturday, Sept. 17, is Constitution Day. It was on this day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed America’s Constitution. And while the First Amendment was not ratified until 1791, discussions over the role of free speech and expression in a democratic society were alive long before then. Pepperdine University professor and author Gordon Lloyd joins the show this week to explore how the American conception of free speech came to be, from the colonial era to the rati...
Sep 15, 2022•36 min
What can Charles Darwin teach us about dissent? What do the professional basketball careers of Wilt Chamberlain and Rick Barry tell us about conventional wisdom? On today’s show, George Mason University Professor Todd Kashdan helps us understand the value of principled dissent: what it is, how to do it, and the pitfalls to avoid. He is the author of “ The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively . ” Show notes: Transcript Todd’s “Provoked” newsletter : “Enjoy new psychological...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Last week, a would-be assassin attacked Salman Rushdie, author of “ The Satanic Verses ,” in an apparent attempt to carry out the infamous fatwa placed on Rushdie’s life. Fortunately, Rushdie survived the attack. Vice News Tonight correspondent and “ The Fifth Column” podcast co-host Michael Moynihan joins the show to discuss what happened, what it means for free speech, and the history of “The Satanic Verses” controversy. Show notes: Transcript Lara Bazelon’s keynote address at FIRE’s 2022 Stud...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 2 min
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade , eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion in the United States, many people expected states to pass laws restricting access to abortion services. Perhaps less expected was that some lawmakers now seek to pass laws restricting — and criminalizing — speech about abortion services. FIRE Legal Director Will Creeley and FIRE Senior Fellow and former ACLU President Nadine Strossen join the show to discuss their recent essay, “ That Facebook pos...
Aug 11, 2022•51 min
Substack — the popular newsletter and publishing service — has made a name for itself by swimming against the current: As many technology companies devise new ways to censor or moderate content on their platforms, Substack made free speech one of its core values and, in doing so, has attracted bloggers and journalists from across the political spectrum. “While we have content guidelines that allow us to protect the platform at the extremes, we will always view censorship as a last resort, becaus...
Jul 21, 2022•46 min
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education proposed new Title IX regulations that, if implemented, would gut essential free speech and due process rights for college students facing sexual misconduct allegations on campus. Joining us to analyze the regulations and their impact are FIRE’s executive director and author of the book “Twisting Title IX,” Robert Shibley , Allen Harris Law Partner Samantha Harris , and Brooklyn College professor KC Johnson . Show notes: FIRE press release Proposed Ti...
Jul 07, 2022•50 min
“Every advance gay people have made in this country has been the result of the exercise of free expression,” argues writer James Kirchick, author of the New York Times bestseller, “ Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington .” Transcript: https://www.thefire.org/so-to-speak-podcast-transcript-the-first-amendment-created-gay-america/ www.sotospeakpodcast.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SotoSpeakTheFreeSpeechPodcast Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/freespeechtalk Facebook: https://w...
Jun 23, 2022•45 min
Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights *in Education* becomes the Foundation for Individual Rights *and Expression*. America’s leading defender of free speech, due process, and academic freedom in higher education announced it is taking its free speech mission beyond college campuses with a $75 million expansion initiative. FIRE President & CEO Greg Lukianoff and FIRE COO Alisha Glennon join the show to discuss how the organization is changing and why. Transcript: www.sotospeakpodcast.com Y...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 1 min
In this week’s episode of So to Speak, we focus on some of the notable cases of music censorship in America, the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), and the lasting effects of the PMRC’s efforts on the music industry. Author Eric Nuzum joins us to discuss his 2001 book, “ Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America .” Nuzum illustrates examples of music censorship ranging from the Reconstruction era, when Southerners were prevented from publicly singing pro-Confederate ball...
May 26, 2022•43 min
Twitter is going to become 8chan . At least, that’s what a recent episode of the popular radio program “On the Media” suggests will happen if Elon Musk successfully buys Twitter. Musk promised to bring greater free speech protections to the social media platform. But where Musk sees an opportunity for more freedom, some see the potential for too much freedom. On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast , Matt Taibbi, Nadine Strossen, and Amna Khalid discuss what “On the Media” got...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 15 min
Did you know Hugh Hefner holds the Guinness World Record for owning the largest personal scrapbook collection in the world? When he was not building the global Playboy empire, he spent his Saturdays compiling more than 3,000 scrapbooks, chronicling free speech and press issues during his lifetime. Stuart N. Brotman , professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was granted exclusive access to Hefner’s scrapbooks. On today’s episode, he talks about what he found and about his new book, “ ...
May 05, 2022•46 min
Does Disney have free speech rights? And did Florida violate the First Amendment when it punished the company for its political activism? Elon Musk is buying Twitter. What should free speech advocates make of that? Recurring guest and famed First Amendment scholar Robert Corn-Revere is here to break it all down for us. He’s a partner at the law firm Davis Wright-Tremaine, a member of FIRE’s Advisory Council , and the author of “ The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder: The First Amend...
Apr 26, 2022•39 min
What is academic freedom? And who polices its boundaries? Our guests on today’s show argue that the popular conception of academic freedom has become too closely connected with the concept of free speech. Penn State Professor Michael Bérubé and Portland State Professor Jennifer Ruth are the authors of “ It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom .” Show notes: Transcript The AAUP’s 1915 and 1940 statements on academic freedom The AAUP’s “ On Freedom of Expression a...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 27 min
Konstantin Eggert, a native Muscovite, has reported on Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. He started his reporting career in Moscow in 1990. From 1998-2009, he was senior correspondent, then editor-in-chief, of the BBC Russian Service Moscow bureau. Later he worked for ExxonMobil Russia and Russian media outlets, Kommersant and TV Rain. Now, living in Lithuania, Eggert is a vocal critic of the Putin regime and has more than a few thoughts on censorship in Russia: specifically, how it com...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 23 min
The Russian government has purged independent media, banned protests, and shut down social media access. So, do Russians know the truth about the war in Ukraine? Ksenia Turkova is a journalist from Russia who currently works for Voice of America. Before coming to the United States she worked for a number of Russian news outlets, including some that were shut down by the Russian government. She also spent time as a radio host in Ukraine. On today’s episode of “ So to Speak: The Free Speech Podc...
Mar 24, 2022•48 min
“No chief justice in our history has had as much influence on the law of freedom of expression as John Roberts,” according to Ronald K.L. Collins and David L. Hudson Jr. They are the authors of a new Brooklyn Law Review article, “ The Roberts Court—Its First Amendment Free Expression Jurisprudence: 2005–2021 .” On today’s episode of “ So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ,” Collins and Hudson review 58 First Amendment rulings that have been issued since John Roberts became Chief Justice of the...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr
On today’s episode of “ So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ,” we are joined by Robert Corn-Revere and David Hudson to discuss Sarah Palin v. New York Times, a defamation case that has captured national attention. Corn-Revere is a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and the author of the new book, “The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder.” Hudson is the Justice Robert H. Jackson legal fellow at FIRE and a professor at Belmont University College of Law. Transcript www.sotospeakpodcas...
Feb 22, 2022•41 min
On today’s episode, we feature a live recording of “ So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ” with Jacob Mchangama, author of “Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media,” in conversation with FIRE’s Greg Lukianoff, Sarah McLaughlin, host Nico Perrino, and NYU professor Stephen D. Solomon. The panelists discuss how lessons from free speech movements throughout world history can help explain today’s divisions over the value of free speech, and how conflicts between egalitarian and elitist...
Feb 04, 2022•1 hr 8 min
