Ronald K.L. Collins' First Amendment News

There is a lot of talk these days about originalism and the need to preserve the past bequeathed to us by the Founders. Central to that vision as it relates to the First Amendment was local journalism.

First Amendment News is a weekly blog and newsletter about free expression issues by Ronald K. L. Collins and is editorially independent from FIRE.

This article is part of First Amendment News, an editorially independent publication edited by Ronald K. L. Collins and hosted by FIRE as part of our mission to educate the public about First Amendment issues.

What if Jann Wenner’s critics openly debated him at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame instead of booting him from the Hall’s board?

We live by lies. They make life possible, pleasurable, and profitable. What would life be if shackled to truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Well, if you clicked on that link you just heard with your own ears Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech. Amazing! So libertarian, so principled — and, yes, so ironic! 

Unlike so many of today’s pompous defenders of free speech who champion the First Amendment whenever it privileges their ideological team, Holmes pushed real risk to the borders of near destruction.

No modern-day lawyer has had more of a sustained impact in developing our First Amendment law of free expression than Floyd Abrams.

In our craving for communication, we seem to be moving further away from the real and closer to the virtual. In this wired state reality is redefined — as is the notion of speech itself.

If the First Amendment did not sometimes defend those deemed offensive, what would the point be?