Abortion in the United States Today

On January 17, NPR's Terry Gross aired an interview with Mary Ziegler, a law professor who has recently published a book, Roe: The History of a National Obsession. Ziegler speaks about the unprecedented uncertainty today in the United States when it comes to abortion since, after the Dobbs decision, the law covering abortion depends on the law in each state. She gives a very detailed description of the state of the law on abortion today. 44 min., almost perfect transcript available.

 U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan Interview

Justice Elena Kagan was interviewed September 19th at Salve Regina University (Rhone Island) - a college, not a law school, and spoke very directly about how the Court functions. Available here on C-Span.53 min. - not very perfect subtitles below the screen.

U.S. Supreme Court End-of-Term Cases - beyond Roe

The U.S. Supreme Court has ended its 2021-2022 term with several more blockbusters in addition to the Dobbs case (reversing Roe v. Wade). You can hear about one of two cases eroding the barrier between church and state on NPR here (3 min. 51 sec. transcript available) and hear about the influence of the Christian right here (6 min. 42 sec.).  You can find a story about the decision eroding the power of administrative agencies to fight climate change here (4 min. 58 sec. transcript available). The end of the piece presents a voting rights case the Court has just agreed to hear next term which law professor Rick Hasen describes as potentially an earthquake in American election law.

 The First Monday in October....

The first Monday in October is the beginning of the U.S. Supreme Court term. For a roundup of what's scheduled, NPR's Nina Totenberg has a report here. Her conclusion --"Hold on to your hats - it's going to be a bumpy ride." 6 min. 54 sec. transcript available.

You can now listen live to oral arguments using this link. As before, audio recordings of arguments and their transcripts are made available at the end of each week here.

Student Free Speech Rights

A Pennsylvania cheerleader used very vulgar language on Snapchat to express her anger when she was not promoted to the varsity cheer team. She was disciplined for this by her high school. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such speech was protected by the First Amendment but added that schools do have the right to discipline out of school speech that is, for instance, harassing or bullying. NPR's Nina Totenberg has the story here. 3 min. 36 sec. transcript available.

 SCOTUS' End of Term Blitz

The U.S. Supreme Court term traditionally finishes by the end of June, with the most controversial cases handed down just before then. The first of those major cases concerns the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which was under attack for the third time. In a 7-2 decision, the Court rejected the newest challenge on a point of procedure, saying the challengers lacked standing. NPR's Nina Totenberg has the report here. 4 min. 58 sec. transcript available. Another report by Totenberg, about the Affordable Care Act and another important case decided the same daywhich pitted religious freedom against anti-discrimination laws can be found here. 4 min, 40 sec. transcript available.

Free Speech in France and the U.S.

The discussion "Free Speech in France and America" is another program presented in partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S. and the National Constitutional Center. Speakers at the event were Marc-Olivier Bherer from Le Monde, Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America and author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All; Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago Law School; and Hélène Tigroudja, law professor at Aix-Marseille University. About one hour long, no transcript. The link to the talk on the NCC site is here,  but if you watch on YouTube you can activate the subtitles.

Trump v. Facebook

On May 6th, The Daily, a New York Times podcast, examined the ruling by Facebook's 'Supreme Court' about the decision barring former president Trump from the platform. It can be found here. 25 min., transcript available.

Student Speech and the First Amendment before the U.S. Supreme Court

A high school cheerleader, disappointed she was not chosen for the varsity cheerleading team, posted her feelings online with a picture and its caption "F*** school F*** softball, F*** cheer, F*** everything". She was punished by the school so she went to court invoking her First Amendment free speech right. The case was argued before the Supreme Court on April 28. NPR's Nina Totenberg has a report of the oral argument here. 4 min. 58 sec. transcript available.

The History of Free Speech

BBC 4 has a series, The Invention of Free Speech, with three episodes:
free speech and
religion,
sex and
politics. 

28 min., no transcript.

Facebook - Zuckerberg Interviewed at Harvard

Mark Zuckerberg, founder  and CEO of Facebook, is interviewed by Jonathan Zittrain. They discuss encryption, ‘information fiduciaries’ and targeted advertisements. Zittrain is a professor at Harvard Law and teaches a course ‘Internet & Society’. 1 hour 43 min., no transcript, but you can turn on subtitles.

Free Speech

Chicago’s local TV station has interviewed Goeffrey Stone, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, about a book just published that he co-authored, The Free Speech Century. 10 min, no transcript.

The End of The U.S. Supreme Court 2017 Term

Terry Gross, the host of NPR’s Fresh Air, interviews Adam Liptak, the Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times about the various ways the First Amendment has played a part in the cases decided this term and the effect of the resignation of Justice Anthony Kennedy. 42 min., transcript available. Another long review (47 min., no transcript) of the 2017 term can be found on NPR’s On Point — « Kennedy Retiring, Gerrymandering, Travel Ban And More ». Dahlia Lithwick's podcast, Amicus, on Slate has another long look at end of the Court's term. 47 min., no transcript.

Armbands Against the Vietnam War - Today

Nina Totenberg on NPR's All Things Considered of January 3rd  reports on the reenactment of a 50 year old U.S. Supreme Court case, Tinker v. the Des Moines Independent Community School District.

Tinker was one of five students who in 1965 wore a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War. She was suspended by school authorities. Four years later, the Supreme Court ruled by a 7 to 2 vote that the school authority was wrong to punish her action.
The re-enactment was part of a project to teach school children about the rule of law. 6 min, transcript available.

For an update on student free speech, see this post.

Wedding Cake and the U.S. Constitution

NPR’s Nina Totenberg has two reports about an important case argued this week before the U.S. Supreme Court which revolves around a wedding cake. A same-sex couple asked a baker to make a cake for their wedding and he refused, saying it was against his religious principles. The constitutional issue that brought the incident to the Court are the baker’s First Amendment free speech right vs. a Colorado anti-discrimination law. This case is important because of the effect that a decision in favor of the baker could have in other situations, so there were many hypothetical questions posed by the justices.
Totenberg’s report just before the argument can be found here. 6 min 31 sec, transcript available.
The second, just after the oral argument, can be found here. 5 min 58 sec, transcript available.
The name of the case is Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The recording of the oral arguments is now available on the Court's web site. The transcript is available here. You can find some in-depth discussion of the case here on the SCOTUSblog web site.

Evolution vs Creationism

The New York Times has a series of videos, Retro Report, which re-examine old controversies and their relevance to the present. It has just posted one about the conflict between science (evolution, in this case) and theology (the Biblical story of creation). There are important constitutional law issues here - the separation of church and state. 10 min 47 sec, no transcript but an article about the subject of the video.

President Trump’s Twitter Account and the First Amendment Rights of His Critics

NPR’s All Things Considered has a piece about a lawsuit by someone who was blocked from making comments on President Trump’s twitter account and he says this infringes his first amendment right to use a public forum. 3 mimn 32 sec, transcript available.

Free Speech, Hate Speech?

NPR’s Weekend Edition of August 26 has an interview with the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union about its defense of the white nationalist rally at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. 4 min 30 sec, transcript available.

Free Speech in the Workplace - Google

The Google employee who questioned the suitability of women in high tech companies was fired. This report on NPR’s All Things Considered examines the legal questions this poses. 3 min 30 sec, transcript available.

More About "The Slants"

NPR's Nina Totenburg presents the case about the rock group The Slants (Lee v. Tam) on All Things Considered just after oral arguments on Wednesday. You can find the report here. 3 min 58 sec, transcript available. You can also find the transcript of the oral arguments, but not the recording, here. Lots of conditionals ("Could the government...") and hypotheticals ("if it was based on viewpoint..." "If our client had sought to register... "Let's say you had a government program..." "If you were to use...").
The recording of the oral arguments and a very useful transcript that scrolls above the recording line can be found here.