
Rereading the First Amendment
The First Amendment is neither clear nor its future certain. Indeed, it is contradictory, ambiguous, and constantly evolving. But contemporary debates about the First Amendment are riddled with an oversimplified understanding of what it means. This is especially true in the context of new technologies. Cases developed in one institutional context are abstracted away to fit a new media environment—the result being, in many cases, a hollowing out of their meaning.
In this series of blog posts, Knight Institute visiting research scholars Genevieve Lakier and evelyn douek reread iconic First Amendment cases with the aim of complicating the false or incomplete assumptions that underlie so much of the conversation about free speech.
This is no mere academic exercise. It comes at an unpredictable inflection point for the First Amendment, when the shifting politics of the moment may rewrite the prevailing understanding of “freedom of speech.” Lakier and douek’s rereading of iconic and less well-known cases will not simply try to match old rules to new problems but rather explore which among the possible interpretations will best safeguard the values we think the First Amendment should protect.
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Deep Dive: Rereading the First Amendment
Rereading “Editorial Discretion”
Despite what the Fifth Circuit recently suggested, “editorial discretion” is most definitely a whole thing
By Evelyn Douek & Genevieve Lakier -
Deep Dive: Rereading the First Amendment
Rereading Schenck v. United States
Please don't falsely yell fire in a crowded theater
By Evelyn Douek & Genevieve Lakier -
Deep Dive: Rereading the First Amendment
Rereading Bluman v. Federal Election Commission
Foreigners have interesting and important things to say too
By Evelyn Douek & Genevieve Lakier -
Deep Dive: Rereading the First Amendment
Rereading Herbert v. Lando
Why exercising editorial discretion doesn’t exempt platforms from all transparency mandates
By Evelyn Douek & Genevieve Lakier -
Deep Dive: Rereading the First Amendment
Rereading Alvarez
It turns out the government can regulate lies … sometimes
By Evelyn Douek & Genevieve Lakier -
Deep Dive: Rereading the First Amendment
Rereading the First Amendment
Exposing the false assumptions that underlie contemporary First Amendment debates
By Evelyn Douek & Genevieve Lakier
Research

Essay Series
The Future of Press Freedom: Democracy, Law, and the News in Changing Times
A project aimed at identifying and protecting core press functions
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Event
State of Silence: The Espionage Act, Politics, and Press Freedom
A panel discussion and Q&A on the Espionage Act
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Privacy & Surveillance
Ideological Screening at the Border
Documents released in our FOIA lawsuit for records on the "extreme vetting" program
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Podcast
Views on First
What happens when social media collides with the First Amendment?
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