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by Mary Anne Franks (Author)
A powerful debunking of First Amendment orthodoxy that critiques "reckless speech," which endangers vulnerable groups, and elevates "fearless speech," which seeks to advance equality and democracy.
Freedom of speech has never been more important--or more controversial. From debates about what's permissible on social media, to the politics of campus speakers and corporate advertisements, the First Amendment is incessantly in the news and constantly being held up as the fundamental principle of American democracy. Yet, in reality, it has contributed more to eroding our democracy than supporting it. In Fearless Speech, Dr. Mary Anne Franks emphasizes the distinction between what speech a democratic society should protect and what speech a democratic society should promote. While the First Amendment in theory is politically neutral, in practice it has been legally deployed most visibly and effectively to promote powerful antidemocratic interests: misogyny, racism, religious zealotry, and corporate self-interest, in other words, reckless speech. Instead, Franks argues, we need to focus on fearless speech--speakers who have risked their safety, their reputations, and in some cases their lives, to call out injustice and hold the powerful accountable. Whether it be civil rights leaders, the women of the #MeToo movement, or pro-choice advocates, Franks shows us how their cases and their voices can allow us to promote a more democratic version of free speech. Told through an accessible narrative and ending with a call for change that urges us to reevaluate the legal precedents and uses of the First Amendment, Fearless Speech is a revelatory new argument that urges us to reimagine what our society could look like.Author Biography
Dr. Mary Anne Franks is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at George Washington University School of Law and the President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. Her areas of expertise include First and Second Amendment law, law and technology, criminal law and procedure, and family law. Her first book, The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech (Stanford University Press 2019), won a 2020 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal and the 2020 Association of American Publishers PROSE Excellence Award in Social Sciences. She holds a DPhil from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a JD from Harvard Law School. Previously, she was the Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair at the University of Miami School of Law, a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and a Lecturer in social studies and philosophy at Harvard University. She is Taiwanese-American and originally from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
