Constitutional Law

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This program reflects upon a trio of 1919 case in which the Supreme Court of the United States authorized a lesser standard of First Amendment protection for speech whose aim was to “incite” violence or damage. This program traces this jurisprudence to its architect, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who wrote the majority opinion in two cases (Schenck and Debs) and dissented in a third (Abrams). This program considers the implication of Holmes’s incitement jurisprudence, including historic, state-authorized censorship that sometimes disparately impacts based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and class. This program also explores the application of incitement jurisprudence to contemporary issues, including the War on Terror and political speech in 2016 Presidential Election.

 

A virtual business meeting was held prior to the Annual Meeting.