Geoffrey R. Stone on Three of the Most Vexing Free Speech Issues Facing Our Nation

Bill of Rights at 225: Vexing free speech issues

In the words of Justice Louis Brandeis, our system of government is based on the understanding that "courage is the secret of liberty," that the freedom of speech is "indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth," that "the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones," and that except in cases of genuine emergency the only proper response even to speech that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death "is more speech, not enforced silence."

Against this background, let me identify what I regard as three of the most vexing free speech issues facing our nation today.

First, there is the widespread tendency of students on college campuses these days to demand the suppression of speech that they find offensive, hateful, and wrongheaded. Both as a First Amendment matter at public institutions and as a matter of academic freedom at private institutions, academic leaders must reject these demands and reinforce the imperative of Brandeis' observation that the only proper response even to speech that we loathe "is more speech, not enforced silence."

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