So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 38 "After Charlottesville" w/ former ACLU President Nadine Strossen Aug 22, 2017

Show notes

Nadine Strossen knows the dangers of Nazism. Her father was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp one day before he was scheduled to be sterilized. If American soldiers arrived a day later, Strossen would never become the first female president of the ACLU. She wouldn't even be alive.

After Charlottesville, there has been vigorous debate about the so-called limits of free speech. Should white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies enjoy full First Amendment rights? And if so, should civil liberties groups, like the ACLU, defend them?

On today's episode of So to Speak, Strossen discusses the fallout from Charlottesville and argues forcefully that, yes, even neo-Nazis deserve free speech and assembly rights ― and yes, the ACLU should defend those rights. She believes the best way to preserve a free society is to not compromise the rights guaranteed by a free society. She is authoring a book on this very topic due out next year titled, "HATE: Why we should resist it with free speech, not censorship."

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Ep. 37 Fredrik deBoer on the growing distrust of higher ed Aug 10, 2017

Show notes

Fredrik deBoer has been in and around academia his entire life. He's a fourth generation Ph.D. who has blogged about education issues since 2008. Writing from a socialist perspective, he regularly tackles campus free speech debates.

Last month, deBoer wrote a piece for The Los Angeles Times arguing that recent efforts to shut down conservative speakers on campus have contributed to an environment where 58 percent of Republicans say colleges have a negative effect on the country.

On today's episode of So to Speak, we ask deBoer how this distrust threatens the future of higher education, and why he believes his colleagues on "the left" contribute to it. We also review common arguments against free speech, and deBoer explains how anti-communist purges targeting his grandfather sparked his early appreciation for academic freedom.

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Ep. 36 The life of Louis Brandeis w/ Jeffrey Rosen Jul 27, 2017

Show notes

During the summer of 1919, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis changed his mind about free speech.

Earlier that year, he voted to uphold the conviction of Charles Schenck for opposing the military draft. A year later, he was the lone dissenter in a case dealing with nearly the same issue. In 1927, he wrote what some consider to be the greatest defense of free speech ever penned by a Supreme Court justice in the case Whitney v. California.

Why did Brandeis change his mind?

On today's episode of So to Speak, we explore the life and legacy of Brandeis with National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. Last year, Rosen wrote the book "Louis D. Brandeis: American Prophet," which explains how Brandeis came to be one of free speech's most eloquent advocates.

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Ep. 35 Et tu, hecklers? Howard Sherman on defending the arts Jul 13, 2017

Show notes

In Shakespeare's 1599 play "Julius Caesar," the title character is warned by a soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March." After protesters attempted to shut down a modernized production of the play in New York's Central Park last month, theater companies may now be warning each other to "beware the ire of hecklers."

On today's episode of So to Speak, we speak with Arts Integrity Initiative Director Howard Sherman about the controversy surrounding The Public Theater's production of "Julius Caesar," which captured headlines for portraying Caesar as a costumed Donald Trump (spoiler alert: Caesar gets assassinated). Howard was in the audience on June 16 when a protester stormed the stage. He may have also been the first to report the heckling to the outside world.

Was the protest protected speech? What does the controversy tell us about creating art on contemporary political themes? Also, looking beyond the "Julius Caesar" controversy, where else do we see art challenged — or censored — and why? These questions and more are addressed in this wide-ranging interview.

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Ep. 34 The 100th anniversary of the Espionage Act of 1917 Jun 29, 2017

Show notes

It was 100 years ago this month that the Espionage Act of 1917 was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, making it a crime to interfere with the operations of the United States military.

During its lifetime, the act has had a troubled history with the First Amendment. It has been used to criminalize wartime dissent, restrict press freedom, and prosecute government whistleblowers.

On today's episode of So to Speak, we speak with University of Washington School of Law scholar Ronald Collins about the Espionage Act and its continuing relevance to civil liberties advocates. We also venture into a slightly unrelated discussion of the Supreme Court's decision in the case In re Anastaplo (1961), which reveals the sort of risks that accompany standing up for one's rights during times of uncertainty.

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Ep. 33 The Slants win at the U.S. Supreme Court! Jun 20, 2017

Show notes

Simon Tam likes to quote Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous line — paraphrased from transcendentalist Theodore Parker's earlier statement — that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." That said, Tam likes to add that the arc doesn't bend on its own. It takes courageous individuals willing to stand up for their rights for justice to be achieved.

Tam can now add himself to the list of those who bore the cost of standing up for their rights — and found justice. Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled in Matal v. Tam that the First Amendment prohibits the United States Patent and Trademark Office from denying trademark registration for the name of Tam's rock band, The Slants, because it allegedly "disparages" Asians.

The PTO didn't care that Tam, the founder of and bass player for The Slants, is himself of Asian descent — as are all the band members — or that Tam picked the name to celebrate Asian heritage, not disparage it.

On today's special "extra" episode of So to Speak, we speak with University of Washington School of Law scholar Ronald Collins and FIRE Justice Robert H. Jackson Legal Fellow Zachary Greenberg about the decision. We also feature an April interview we conducted with The Slants about the case at FIRE's Philadelphia office. To close out the show, The Slants perform two acoustic songs for your listening pleasure.

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Video: https://youtu.be/iqr6l-mEGCA

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Ep. 32 Tyler Cowen on the complacent campus Jun 15, 2017

Show notes

George Mason University Professor Tyler Cowen has spent the better part of the last 40 years on college campuses. That's why when he wrote in his new book "The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream" that college campuses are "among the segments of American society where the complacent class exercises its strongest influence," we wanted to learn more.

On today's episode of So to Speak, we ask professor Cowen why he believes college campuses are complacent and what impact, if any, this has on recent campus debates about freedom of speech.

Joining host Nico Perrino in quizzing professor Cowen about the implications his thesis has for free speech is FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff, who is also curious about some of professor Cowen's other areas of expertise — economics and food.

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Ep. 31 Campus free speech round table: spring 2017 semester in review Jun 01, 2017

Show notes

FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff once declared 2014 the year of the heckler. But after high profile examples of mob censorship at the University of California, Berkeley, Middlebury College, and Claremont McKenna College, has 2017 become the new year of the heckler — at least on college campuses?

On this week's episode of So to Speak, host Nico Perrino is joined by his FIRE colleagues Will Creeley, Samantha Harris, and Joe Cohn to help answer this and other questions about free speech on campus during the spring 2017 semester.

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Ep. 30 Eugene Volokh and new frontiers in the First Amendment May 18, 2017

Show notes

Where are the new frontiers in First Amendment law? Where do scholars and the courts see the potential for expanding First Amendment protections in the future? What technological developments pose challenges to existing First Amendment protections?

Our guest on today's episode of So to Speak will help us answer those questions.

Professor Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA and the founder of the popular legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy. Before receiving his law degree and clerking for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court, he graduated from UCLA at age 15 with a degree in math-computer science and worked as a computer programmer for 12 years.

Professor Volokh is widely regarded as a foremost scholar on the First Amendment and his textbook, "The First Amendment and Related Statutes," is used in law schools across the country. On today's show, we explore topics relating to virtual reality and augmented reality, occupational speech and the case of Mats Järlström, prediction markets, and Packingham v. North Carolina, a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with registered sex offenders' access to social media.

Also in this show: Professor Volokh shares what First Amendment issue he is particularly interested in at the moment.

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Ep. 29 Former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser May 04, 2017

Show notes

Ira Glasser is one of the most consequential civil liberties figures in American history.

He ran the ACLU as its executive director from 1978 until his retirement in 2001. In the process, he transformed the organization from a small, $4 million nonprofit with offices in a few cities into a household name with an annual budget of $45 million, a $30 million endowment, and staffed offices in every state, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico.

This week is the 50th anniversary of when Glasser started with the ACLU on May 1, 1967. In this exclusive, wide-ranging interview, he shares how he went from a part-time math teacher with no law degree to the leader of one of America's most prominent legal organizations.

His story takes us to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, where in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball and inspired a generation of civil rights activists, to the offices of Robert Kennedy, where the junior U.S. senator spoke with a young Glasser and convinced him to take a job with the ACLU — a job he initially didn't want.

In explaining how he got from "here to there," Glasser puts on a master class in principled free speech advocacy, effective management strategies, and how following your passions can lead you to delightfully unexpected places.

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Interview transcript: thefire.org/so-to-speak-podcast-transcript-ira-glasser-aclu/

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