This is New York Times v. Sullivan (1964).

Legal Question: To what extent does the First Amendment protections for speech and press limit a state's power to award damages in a libel action brought by a public official against critics of his official conduct?

Action: The Court ruled in favor of The Times.

This opinion’s citations have been edited down and all footnotes have been removed for ease of listening.

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This article titled “Nature Human Misbehavior: politicized science is neither science nor progress” by Johnathan Rauch was published on FIRE’s Newsdesk on September 14, 2022. 

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O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake is read by Casey Mattox, the vice president for legal and judicial strategy at Americans for Prosperity.

Legal Question: Whether government retaliation against a contractor or regular provider of services for the exercise of rights of political association or allegiance violates the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee.

Action: The Court found that the independent contractor relationship between O'Hare and the City was sufficiently close to an employer-employee relationship to justify the recognition of a First Amendment right. 

Mr. Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court, at 00:35

This opinion’s citations have been edited down for ease of listening. For more information, visit our explanation.

For more on O’Hare, visit FIRE’s First Amendment Library.

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Free Speech Out Loud is a project of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

This speech titled “Spirit of Liberty” was originally given by Judge Learned Hand in 1944 in celebration of I Am an American Day.

For this recording the speech is read by Don Murphy. 

For the text of the “Spirit of Liberty” speech visit FIRE’s First Amendment Library.

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Legal Question: Whether provisions of the Education Law and Civil Service Law requiring public servants to renounce Communism were overly broad and vague. 

Action: The Court ruled in favor of the employees and held that the provisions at issue were unconstitutional as applied.

Mr. Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court, at 00:58

Mr. Justice Clark, with whom Mr. Justice Harlan, Mr. Justice Stewart and Mr. Justice White join, dissenting, at 49:36

This opinion’s citations have been edited down for ease of listening. For more information, visit our explanation.

For more on Keyishian, visit FIRE’s First Amendment Library.

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This article titled “QUIET CAMPUSES: America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech” was published on FIRE’s Newsdesk on February 2, 2022.

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This article titled “From protests to the Supreme Court: How the Civil Rights Movement advanced First Amendment legal protections” by Jordan Howell was published on FIRE’s Newsdesk on January, 14 2022. 

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This article, titled “The Second Great Age of Political Correctness” by Greg Lukianoff was published in the January 2022 issue of Reason Magazine. 

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