One of the great maxims in defense of the 1^st Amendment is the insistence by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes that we must defend 'even the thought we hate'. But law professor Jeremy Waldron asks, when it comes to the most egregious hate speech, why?  He explains to Brooke that words can and do hurt us and that there should be limitations on the most hateful expression.

 

Beastie Boys - Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament

First Amendment lawyer Marc Randazza disagrees with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's position on the Crystal Cox case despite being the target of one of her attacks. Randazza talks to Bob about that experience and whether it has tested his faith in the First Amendment.

 

Tanlines - Rain Delay

In the wake of MIA's bird-flipping performance at the Super Bowl and Gisele Bundchen's post-game profanity, Bob talks to Mary Prevost, a lawyer representing a California sports fan's who was ejected from a football game for swearing. Prevost says that ejecting him from the park was a violation of his First Amendment rights.

MIA - Paper Planes

On Tuesday a federal appeals court reached an interesting and important decision about free speech online. Split 2-1, the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a racist and violent online screed threatening then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008 was ‘repugnant’ but not criminal. 

This week, the Supreme Court ruled that visual depictions of “animal cruelty” – however objectionable they may be – are protected free speech and that a federal statute criminalizing possession of such material is unconstitutional. University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone says that those of us who ...

A SLAPP, or “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” is a little known but widespread threat to the First Amendment. SLAPPs are meritless suits brought by companies, individuals and sometimes the government, not to win, but to silence critics. Congress is now considering federal

An Oregon man made headlines recently for a lawsuit he filed against local police. He claims officers have repeatedly pulled him over, not for his driving, but because he keeps giving them the middle finger. Professor Ira Robbins says the American courts generally protect the right ...

In March of 2005, Leslie Weise was ejected from a Town Hall meeting with the president because she arrived in a car with a bumper sticker that read, “No More Blood For Oil.” Were her First Amendment rights violated? ACLU senior counsel Chris Hansen argued just that in ...

The Supreme Court ruled this week to overturn a century-old limit on corporate spending in political elections. Corporations, unions and political groups can now spend as much as they want on political advertising, so long as they don't give directly to a candidate. No one's exactly sure

The Medill Journalism School and the Cook County District Attorney in Chicago are locked in a legal battle over a murder investigation conducted by Medill students as part of the Innocence Project. The DA has subpoenaed the students' academic records. Medill ...

This week, an appeals court issued some major decisions in the AIPAC lobbyists case which could determine the future legality of leaking classified information to reporters or anyone else. The Federation of American Scientists' Steven Aftergood explains why anyone who's ever pursued, heard ...

Twenty years ago this week, the Ayatollah Khomeini called for the death of author Salman Rushdie for insulting Islam in his book The Satanic Verses. Rushdie's lawyer Geoffrey Robertson gave Rushdie a place to hide out in those days and defended Rushdie against the crime of ...

Every time bloggers hit publish they risk being sued for copyright infringement, invasion of privacy or defamation. While the risk seems small, groups like the Media Bloggers Association say frivolous lawsuits are chilling free speech in the blogosphere. So MBA founder Robert Cox has helped start ...

A group of Canadian Muslim students has filed a complaint under their country's Human Rights Act against Maclean's magazine for a piece they feel violated their human rights. The case has sparked a debate in Canada about press freedoms and multiculturalism. One of the students who ...

Making its way through the New York state legislature is the Libel Terrorism Protection Act. The bill aims to mitigate the impact of libel tourism, which former civil-rights attorney Samuel Abady believes undermines our First Amendment.

The legal basis for this show, the various media we cover and, frankly, for the style of our coverage is the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But how well do any of us know our beloved protection? Not that well, explains Anthony Lewis in his new book Freedom for ...

A bill offering a federal shield law just might go to the House floor for a vote this week. Which means that U.S. journalists are closer than ever to having legal protection for their conversations with sources. New York Times reporter Adam Liptak explains.

Presidents have always been in the business of managing public relations, but it’s not often we get proof of the strategies they employ. For the current administration, such proof came two weeks ago when its Advance Manual surfaced during a lawsuit. Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick provides a ...

San Francisco videographer Josh Wolf has earned the distinction of being the journalist jailed longest for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors. Wolf's lawyer, Martin Garbus, reviews the case.

Can a TV station be a terrorist entity? Mark Dubowitz of the Coalition Against Terrorist Media says the State Department was right to ban transmission of Al Manar, the media outlet of Lebanon-based Hezbollah. Worried about the First Amendment? You’re not the only one.