March Tele-town Hall: Political Speech on T- Shirts and in Union Halls

In this episode,  Dr. John C. Eastman, founding director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, for our March tele-town hall. Dr. Eastman is joined by Ilya Shapiro, who is a 2015 Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, and editor-in chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. The two discuss Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, a case challenging a Minnesota election law which prohibits voters from wearing political apparel at a polling venue. Under this law, voters who wear such apparel are told to remove these items before they can enter the polling place and vote. If they refuse, election officials take down their names for possible prosecution and penalties. This case was argued on February 28, 2018. 

The two also discuss a First Amendment case before the Supreme Court this term, Janus v. American Federation, which questions whether Abood v. Detroit Board of Education should be overruled. The issue before the Court is whether public employee unions may continue to garnish workers’ paychecks to fund the political act of collective bargaining for taxpayer funded wages and benefits. This case was argued on February 26, 2018.

 Dr. Eastman is the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. He served as a law clerk with Justice Clarence Thomas in 1996-97.