"For more than a decade, Professor Eugene Volokh’s article—Freedom For The Press As An Industry, Or For The Press As A Technology? From The Framing To Today—has been recognized as the authoritative work on the meaning of press freedom at the Founding. In it, Volokh argued that the Press Clause’s reference to “the Press” meant the printing press as a technology rather than as the journalistic enterprise we recognize today. On that basis, he concluded that the Founding generation understood the Press Clause not as providing special rights for the institutional press but as securing every man’s right to use the printing press. Those in favor of a Press Clause that specially protected the press, he said, must look elsewhere than the text or history of that Clause.
[Matthew Schafer's] Article calls Volokh’s into doubt. By examining his sources and reasoning, I show how he misunderstood the historical record and drew conclusions unsupported by it. Specifically, Volokh’s inquiry suffered from three problems: conceptual (defining “the Press” does not define the meaning of the Press Clause at the Founding), evidentiary (too little, too unpersuasive), and methodological (he followed none). I then explain that two premises on which Volokh based his article—that the newspaper industry at the Founding was insignificant and practiced no real journalism—are contrary to the historical record and academic consensus. Contrary to Volokh’s view that press-specific rights are a modern invention, I finally provide examples of them from the Founding era and posit that early Americans recognized such rights because they understood them ultimately to inure to the benefit of the public in the form of the news. The news, in turn, helped secure public liberty. I close by calling on Volokh to revisit his thesis."
The Washington and Lee Chapter of the American Constitution Society and the W&L Office of Career Strategy are excited to announce that W&L's tenth annual SCOTUS Preview will be held on Thursday, October 10 at 5:00 PM in the Moot Court Room. This event will include presentations by faculty members on upcoming Supreme Court cases followed by dinner and a lively discussion with fellow classmates and professors.
This is the 4th annual Supreme Court Round Up event hosted by OCU Law. We will have a panel of Constitutional Law experts from across the state. There will be a reception before the panel with food. OCU Law's FedSoc chapter will be co-sponsoring this event.
This will be a conversation with Cheryl Carter (Co-Executive Director of Democracy NC) and Jeff Loperfido (Chief Counsel of Voting Rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice), moderated by Professor Su. We will discuss voting rights litigation in North Carolina, the work of our panelists, and barriers to voting across our state.
Please join the ACS UChicago Student Chapter for a program exploring recent developments in Second Amendment litigation. The program features: Bill Taylor, Deputy Director of Second Amendment Litigation at Everytown Law, and UChicago Law Professor Darrell Miller.
From the January 6th attack on the Capitol to recent assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump, political violence and intimidation pose a growing threat to our democracy. ACS will host Giffords Law Center, March for Our Lives and leading legal scholars to discuss the causes of rising violence, the stakes of the 2024 election, and how progressive lawyers can support positive change.
Featuring:
- Russ Feingold, President, American Constitution Society
- Joseph Blocher, Professor, Duke Law School
- Makennan McBryde, Legal Project Manager, Giffords Law Center
- Mary McCord, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
- Yvin Shin, Legal Associate, March for Our Lives
