Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.)
Recently on a First Amendment lawyers listserv, some members suggested some useful treatises addressing free speech law in the United States. Some of the following treatises have been around a few decades without being updated with statutory and caselaw changes.
Thanks to the listserv members who suggested the following titles. I have not read many of these treatises, and recognize that some of the authors and I may have some deep disagreements:
- A Worthy Tradition, by Harry Kalven.
- Emergence of a Free Press (updated from the author's Legacy of Suppression), by Leonard Levy.
- Free Speech in its Forgotten Years, by David M. Rabban.
- From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act, by Christopher M. Finan.
- The First Freedom, by Robert Hargreaves.
- Defending Pornography, by Nadine Strossen.
- The Law of Obscenity, by Frederick F. Schauer.
- Also, see the section on First Amendment theory in Laurence Tribe's American Constitutional Law.
- Also, see Gerald Gunther as a source for analysis on free speech law.
As always, I welcome your comments and e-mails for additional ideas to consider for this and all other Underdog blog entries. Jon Katz.
