Free Speech Out Loud

This is New York Times v. Sullivan (1964).

Legal Question: To what extent does the First Amendment protections for speech and press limit a state's power to award damages in a libel action brought by a public official against critics of his official conduct?

Action: The Court ruled in favor of The Times.

This opinion’s citations have been edited down and all footnotes have been removed for ease of listening.

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This article titled “Nature Human Misbehavior: politicized science is neither science nor progress” by Johnathan Rauch was published on FIRE’s Newsdesk on September 14, 2022. 

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O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake is read by Casey Mattox, the vice president for legal and judicial strategy at Americans for Prosperity.

Legal Question: Whether government retaliation against a contractor or regular provider of services for the exercise of rights of political association or allegiance violates the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee.

Action: The Court found that the independent contractor relationship between O'Hare and the City was sufficiently close to an employer-employee relationship to justify the recognition of a First Amendment right. 

Mr. Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court, at 00:35

This opinion’s citations have been edited down for ease of listening. For more information, visit our explanation.

For more on O’Hare, visit FIRE’s First Amendment Library.

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Free Speech Out Loud is a project of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

This speech titled “Spirit of Liberty” was originally given by Judge Learned Hand in 1944 in celebration of I Am an American Day.

For this recording the speech is read by Don Murphy. 

For the text of the “Spirit of Liberty” speech visit FIRE’s First Amendment Library.

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Legal Question: Whether provisions of the Education Law and Civil Service Law requiring public servants to renounce Communism were overly broad and vague. 

Action: The Court ruled in favor of the employees and held that the provisions at issue were unconstitutional as applied.

Mr. Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court, at 00:58

Mr. Justice Clark, with whom Mr. Justice Harlan, Mr. Justice Stewart and Mr. Justice White join, dissenting, at 49:36

This opinion’s citations have been edited down for ease of listening. For more information, visit our explanation.

For more on Keyishian, visit FIRE’s First Amendment Library.

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This article titled “QUIET CAMPUSES: America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech” was published on FIRE’s Newsdesk on February 2, 2022.

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This article titled “From protests to the Supreme Court: How the Civil Rights Movement advanced First Amendment legal protections” by Jordan Howell was published on FIRE’s Newsdesk on January, 14 2022. 

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This article, titled “The Second Great Age of Political Correctness” by Greg Lukianoff was published in the January 2022 issue of Reason Magazine. 

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This article titled “Yale’s treatment of psych lecturer another step in continuing retreat from academic freedom” by Adam Goldstein and Peter Bonilla was published as part of FIRE’s Eternally Radical Idea column on December 6, 2021.

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This article titled “What does MIT stand for? Faculty, alumni want answers.” by Komi German was published to FIRE’s Newsdesk on December 1, 2021. 

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