David D. Cole is the Honorable George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy and former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Read his full bio here.

Abstract for Professor Cole’s lectures: Progressives have increasingly lost faith in the First Amendment—at least as it has been interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court.  They argue that free speech has been “weaponized” by big business as a deregulatory tool; that hate speech inflicts harms that warrant its regulation; that free speech is obsolete in the internet age; and that it subjects campaign finance regulation to unjustified judicial scrutiny.  Each of these criticisms is widely shared in the legal academy, often taken as given.

These lectures will offer a defense of the First Amendment from its progressive critics. I am a progressive myself.  But I will argue that the progressive case against the First Amendment, while offering important insights, is not just unpersuasive, but counterproductive.  I seek to offer in short, a progressive defense to the progressive critics of free speech today.

Commentators:

Two commentators follow each lecture (all commentators are with us both days): Ulrich Baer, University Professor, Departments of German and Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts & Science; Director, Center for the Humanities, New York University; Joshua Cohen, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Department of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley; Catharine A. MacKinnon, Elizabeth A. Long Professor Emerita of Law at Michigan Law and the long-term James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum.