Olivia DrakeGeoffrey Stone, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, delivered the 22nd annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression on April 18. The topic of this year's event was "Justice Alito’s First Amendment.” Stone explored the current state of constitutional jurisprudence, with a particular eye on the approach of the most "conservative" of the current justices. How they undertake the challenge of interpreting the often vague and open-ended guarantees of the Constitution? What explains their decisions in the most controversial cases, involving such issues as the constitutionality of campaign finance regulation, affirmative action, and gun control?…
Lauren RubensteinAn originalist approach to interpreting the Constitution may not be perfect, but it’s “the only game in town,” was the message from U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia when he delivered the annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression at Wesleyan on March 8. “Do you think that judges—that is to say, lawyers—are better at the science of what ought to be than the science of history? I don’t think so,” Scalia told a packed crowd in Memorial Chapel. “The reality is that originalism is the only game in town; the only real verifiable criteria that can…
David PesciU.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia will be the featured speaker at the annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression, which will be held 8 p.m., March 8, in Memorial Chapel. Tickets to the lecture in the chapel were scooped up almost immediately, as were tickets for the simulcast viewing at the Center for Film Studies. The lecture will also be simulcast in CFA Hall, PAC 001 and PAC 002 where tickets are not needed and seats are available. Justice Scalia's speech will be titled “The Originalist Approach to the First Amendment.” In addition to the speech,…
Bill HolderThe Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School, Jack M. Balkin, spoke on “The First Amendment is an Information Policy,” during the 20th Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. Professor Balkin received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Cambridge University, and his A.B. and J.D. degrees from Harvard University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and writes political and legal commentary at the weblog Balkinization. Professor Balkin is the founder and director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, an interdisciplinary center that studies law and the…
The Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School, Jack M. Balkin, will speak on “The First Amendment is an Information Policy,” during the 20th Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The event will be held at 8 p.m. March 23 in Memorial Chapel. The annual event is endowed by a gift from Leonard S. Halpert ’44, Esq. Halpert has provided the following commentary: What are Professor Balkin’s views as to the parameters of freedom of expression, legal as set by the First Amendment, and by societal pressures and norms? To understand…
Ethics leader and law professor Lawrence Lessig will speak on "Speech and Independence: The Wrongs of Corporate Speech," during the 19th Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The event is at 8 p.m. April 7 in Memorial Chapel. Lessig is professor of law at Harvard Law School and the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. As director, Lessig is leading a five-year project studying “institutional corruption” relationships which are legal, even ethical, but which weaken public trust in an institution. Prior to Harvard, Lessig was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he…
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