Wendy Kaminer is a lawyer, civil libertarian and author of several books, including Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity and the ACLU.
“Hate speech is excluded from protection,” CNN anchor Chris Cuomo tweeted last year, echoing a dangerously common misconception. “Hate speech isn’t free speech,” people say, assuming they have a right not to hear whatever they consider hateful language and ideas. Government officials sometimes share this view: The Mayor of West Hollywood confirmed to Eugene Volokh […]
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At first glance, this looks like a victory for free speech: University of Kansas assistant professor, Andrea Quenette, was allowed to keep her job after quoting the word “nigger” instead of referencing it by initial during a discussion of racism. But her victory was qualified–Quenette did not escape punishment. As The Washington Post reports, for […]
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Cross-posted from Cognoscenti I’m a feminist, or so I have always thought, given my decades of advocacy for unqualified sexual equality and reproductive choice. But according to Gloria Steinem and sociologist Michael Kimmel, I am an “opponent of women’s equality and their right to make decisions about their own bodies.” Why? Because I oppose California’s […]
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