Tanner Lectures on Human Values: “A Defense of Free Speech from Its Progressive Critics”

Progressives have increasingly lost faith in the First Amendment—at least as it has been interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court. They argue that free speech has been “weaponized” by big business as a deregulatory tool; that hate speech inflicts harms that warrant its regulation; that free speech is obsolete in the internet age; and that it subjects campaign finance regulation to unjustified judicial scrutiny. Each of these criticisms is widely shared in the legal academy, often taken as given.

These lectures will offer a defense of the First Amendment from its progressive critics. I am a progressive myself. But I will argue that the progressive case against the First Amendment, while offering important insights, is not just unpersuasive, but counterproductive. I seek to offer in short, a progressive defense to the progressive critics of free speech today.