The Fight for Free Speech

Starred review from December 1, 2020
A deep dive into 10 precedent-setting legal actions that helped define the scope--and limits--of the First Amendment. "Most of my career has focused on explaining complicated legal concepts to smart people who are not lawyers," writes media lawyer Rosenberg. His approach is admirably free of legal locutions, though his discussions of some concepts are subtle. Consider two cases that formed the precedent for whether a government can compel expression regarding the Pledge of Allegiance--which, until 1942, was accompanied by a salute uncomfortably like that of the Nazis. Religious in origin, the objections to reciting the pledge came from Christians who believed that to do so would be to worship a graven image. The Supreme Court eventually agreed, though it has remained reticent on the question of whether municipalities and other governments can compel a person to sing the national anthem. Situated within the same general legal domain are such matters as former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's habit of taking a knee during the anthem to protest police brutality, which excited angry commentary from the Trump administration, some of whose principals have demanded overhauling libel laws to suppress criticism. That's unlikely to happen given the court's widespread acceptance of the argument, advanced by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., that "the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out." This broad interpretation allowed Madonna to muse about blowing up the White House when Trump took office, just as it protected students prosecuted in the 1960s for their slogan "Fuck the draft." The toughest nut in the book is the dividing line between hate speech and free speech, a discussion that anyone in media and legal circles will want to study closely. Essential reading for journalists, political activists, and ordinary citizens alike.

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January 1, 2021

Media attorney Rosenberg offers an accessible explanation of the right to free speech, chronicling recent news accounts that involve the First Amendment, then describing relevant Supreme Court cases. At the Women's March of 2017, Madonna stated that she had thought about blowing up the White House. Though she was legally entitled to say so, Rosenberg notes that a century ago, she would have been arrested; Abrams v. United States in 1919 upheld the conviction of Russian Jewish anarchists who had distributed anti-U.S. leaflets. Parkland students were able to organize a nationwide student walkout in part because of Tinker v. Des Moines, which in 1969 recognized high school students' rights to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands. Tackling everything from former NFL player Colin Kaepernick's decision to kneel during the national anthem to the Westboro Baptist Church's picketing of funerals of gay people, the author provides ample historical context. VERDICT Rosenberg presents challenging, provocative material in an engaging manner that will have readers pondering these issues. Anyone interested in the history of free speech and the Supreme Court will enjoy this extensively researched book.--Karen Sandlin Silverman, Mt. Ararat Middle Sch., Topsham, ME

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