Free Speech : Supreme Court Opinions from the Beginning to the Roberts Court

Free Speech: Supreme Court Opinions from the Beginning to the Roberts Court is a curated collection of Supreme Court opinions on the topic of free speech. These opinions help students learn how justices think, reason, express themselves, wrestle with contentious issues, and reach decisions on them. 

The book covers a century of free speech opinions, from the classics to recent decisions by the Roberts Court, that address subversive and offensive speech, incitement to violence, obscenity, and whether corporations have First Amendment rights. It features many precedent-setting cases including Schenck v. United States (shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater), the Pentagon Papers case, and Citizens United. 

Each opinion has been edited to eliminate unnecessary legal and procedural side issues and ensure accessibility for all readers. The opinions are framed by commentary that provides context and analysis to educate readers about the extent to which we have free speech and how the principles were established. Free Speech is well-suited to political science, history, rhetoric, communications, law, and legal studies courses, and is an excellent reference tool for legal practitioners.

William Bennett Turner graduated from Harvard Law School. After a Fulbright fellowship in comparative law, he practiced civil rights law with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and taught at Harvard before starting his own law firm. He argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including two First Amendment cases. He has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, for over 30 years, educating thousands of undergraduate and graduate journalism students about the First Amendment. He has written for the New York Times, Politico, Wired, Harvard Magazine, The Berkeley Blog, and many other publications, and he served as legal affairs correspondent for KQED television. He is the author of Figures of Speech: First Amendment Heroes and Villains (2010).