Major First Amendment issues are making their way through the courts and their resolution by the Supreme Court could change long-standing free speech and free press principles. 

On this edition of Office Hours, Stuart Brontman, a First Amendment scholar with deep expertise in communications law joins CAFE Executive Producer Tamara Sepper to discuss three areas that have been making the headlines in recent months: 

(1) Laws passed by Republicans in Texas and Florida that regulate content moderation by large social media companies and their right to exclude posts based on the viewpoints expressed; 

(2) Defamation law and whether the justices will revisit the “actual malice” standard established in New York Times v. Sullivan, given a series of recent high-profile lawsuits, including Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News; and 

(3) An Arizona law that bans people from recording police if the individual recording is within 8 feet away from the law enforcement activity and is given notice.  

Brotman also discusses his new book, “The First Amendment Lives On – Conversations Commemorating Hugh M. Hefner’s Legacy of Enduring Free Speech and Free Press Values.”

For transcript of the episode, head to: https://cafe.com/office-hours/stuart-brotman/