First Amendment Theory Seminar

3 units

Enrollment limit: 16. This readings seminar will examine the foundations of modern free speech theory, focusing on readings from seven thinkers who have contributed significant and influential articulations of the need for strong protections for the freedom of expression: John Milton, James Madison, John Stuart Mill, Learned Hand, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, and Alexander Meiklejohn. Class meetings will be structured around principal readings from each of these thinkers, supplemented by historical and case materials that contextualize, implement, or challenge the principal readings. The course will be theoretical rather than doctrinal, and will require serious engagement both in and out of class with these ideas. Although the seminar is intended to satisfy the upper-level writing requirement, it will be structured along the lines of a graduate readings colloquium - the class will meet every week and the substantial writing assignments will require students to engage in critical oral and written analysis of the readings rather than supervised research. Readings will total approximately 1,000 pages over the course of the semester, and thorough class participation every week is required. Grades will be based upon a combination of class participation, oral presentations critiquing assigned reading materials, and two writing assignments (one three-page, one ten-page) in reaction to the readings. Please note that despite the relative shortness of the writing assignments, these will be challenging papers to write. The longer writing assignment, due at the end of the semester, will be to write a thoughtful and balanced critique of one of the principal texts. Prior coursework in the First Amendment area is suggested but not required. [This seminar is not graded anonymously because the professor works with students on their writing project(s) throughout the semester.]