In part three of Philly.com’s 12-part series on the Bill of Rights, Geoffrey R. Stone of the University of Chicago Law School addresses freedom of speech.
According to Professor Stone, the U.S. Supreme Court has “embraced the central lesson that government officials cannot be trusted to decide what views the citizens of a democracy should be permitted to espouse or to hear,” and “may not restrict the expression of specific points of view, no matter how seemingly wrongheaded, offensive, or disloyal they might seem, unless the speech at issue creates a clear and present danger of grave harm.”
Professor Stone goes on to identify three critical free speech issues facing our nation: (1) the support of the suppression of offensive speech on college campuses; (2) the increased existence of intentionally false statements; and (3) the influence of money in the political process.
Professor Stone was ALI’s 2016 Annual Meeting Dinner Speaker where he discussed the topic of Free Speech on Campus.