Freedom of Speech and the First Amendment
Class
Topic
PRELIMINARY SYLLABUS
Spring 2016
Greg Lukianoff & Catherine Sevcenko (catherine@thefire.org)
Law 164
Mondays, 4:00pm-5:50pm
Material
Class 1
Jan. 11
Origins of Free Speech,
Early First Amendment
Cases, & Incitement
Part A: John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapter 2 (available
at http://www.constitution.org/jsm/liberty.htm)
Class 2
Jan. 25
Basics of Free Speech Law:
Prior Restraint and Strict
Scrutiny
Part A: Prior restraint: Near v. Minnesota, New York Times v. U.S. (Pentagon Papers)
and U.S. v. Progressive
Class 3
Feb. 1
The Categorical Approach to
Unprotected Speech: Fighting
Words, True Threats, and
Incitement
Part A: Fighting words, true threats: Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, Gooding v. Wilson
and Virginia v. Black
Class 4
Feb. 8
Defamation & Anonymity
Part B: The Holmes/Brandeis Supreme Court and the rise of the modern First
Amendment:
Schenk v. U.S., Debs v. U.S., Abrams v. U.S., Gitlow v. New York, Brandenburg v. Ohio
Part B: Strict scrutiny: Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project ; ACLU v. Reno
Part B: Incitement vs. Heckler’s Veto: Hess v. Indiana; Feiner v. New York
Part A: Defamation: NYT v. Sullivan, Gertz v. Welch, U.S. v. Alvarez
Part B: Anonymity: NAACP v. Alabama, McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission,
ProjectMarriage.com v. Bowen
1
Class
Topic
Material
Part A: High school speech: Tinker v. Des Moines, Bethel School District v.. Fraser,
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, Morse v. Frederick
Class 5
Feb. 15
Government as Educator
Class 6
Feb. 22
Sex
Class 7
Feb. 29
The Public Forum Doctrine, Part A: Forum analysis: Perry Educ. Ass’n v. Perry Local Educators’ Ass’n; Forsyth County v.
Nationalist Movement
Time, Place, and Manner
Restrictions, and Campus Time, place and manner: Grayned v. City of Rockford, Ward v. Rock Against Racism
Free Speech Zones
Part B: Application on Campus: Roberts v. Haragan, University of Cincinnati Chapter of
Young Americans for Liberty v. Williams.
March 7
Part B: Academic Freedom/Collegiate Speech: AAUP
Declaration (1940),
Sweezy v. New Hampshire, Keyishian v. Board of Regents, Healy v. James, Papish v. Board of
Curators of the University of Missouri
Part A: Pornography vs. Obscenity: Roth v. U.S., Miller v. California
Child Porn: New York v. Ferber, Stanley v. Georgia; Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
Part B: SEBNO (Sexually Explicit but Not Obscene Speech):
American Booksellers Assn., Inc. v. Hudnut, Renton v. Playtime Theaters, Inc., Ginzburg
v. U.S.
Spring Break
NO CLASS
2
Class
Topic
Class 8
March 14
Conscience, Compelled
Speech and Association
Class 9
March 21
Symbolic Speech, Media
Class 10
March 28
Commercial Speech;
Government as
Employer
Class 11
April 4
Campaign Finance
Class 12
April 11
Hate Speech
Material
Part A: Compelled speech: West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, Wooley
v. Maynard, Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc.
Part B: Freedom of association: Roberts v. U.S. Jaycees, Boy Scouts of America et al.
v. Dale, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, Unlearning Liberty, Chapter 8
Part A: Symbolic Speech: U.S. v. O’Brien, Cohen v. California, Texas v. Johnson
Part B: Media: FCC, Cable and Internet: FCC v. Pacifica, Reno v. ACLU
Part A: Commercial speech: Valentine v. Chrestensen, Bigelow v. Virginia, Virginia State
Pharmacy Board v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Reed v. Town of Gilbert
Part B: Government employee speech: Pickering v. Board of Education, Garcetti v.
Ceballos, Adams v. Trustees of the Univ of N.C. Wilmington
Campaign Finance: Buckley v. Valeo, Citizens United v. FEC
Part A: Hate Speech: Beauharnais v. Illinois, R. A. V. v. City of St. Paul, Snyder v. Phelps,
Doe v. University of Michigan, Dambrot v. Central Michigan University
Part B: Harassment: Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 2003 OCR “Dear
Colleague” Letter, 2011 OCR “Dear Colleague” Letter, DeJohn v. Temple University
3
Class
Class 13
April 18
Class 14
April 21
(Monday
Schedule)
Exam
TBD
Topic
In-class debate
Government as
speaker/Review
Material
Students argue that recent Supreme Court First Amendment cases were incorrectly
decided.
Part A: Government as Speaker
Part B: Review
4