The Taming of Free Speech: America’s Civil Liberties Compromise

William G. McGowan Theater
Washington, DC

In the early decades of the 20th century, business leaders condemned civil liberties as masks for subversive activity, while labor sympathizers denounced the courts as shills for industrial interests. But by the Second World War, prominent figures in both camps celebrated the judiciary for protecting freedom of speech. Laura Weinrib illustrates how a surprising coalition of lawyers and activists made judicial enforcement of the Bill of Rights a defining feature of American democracy. A book signing follows the program.