Seminar in American Politics: Free Speech and the Law

This seminar will focus on the theory, law and politics of freedom of speech within the context of the American constitutional system. The course will draw primarily on court cases relating to the developing constitutional law surrounding the First Amendment. Judicial opinions will be supplemented with some broader theoretical and empirical works. Particular problems to be addressed will include dangerous speech, false speech, racist speech, censorship and secrecy, privacy, and protests.