Aaron Caplan is a First Amendment scholar who has focused on Internet free
speech cases and has litigated for the ACLU. He teaches at Loyola Law
School.
Alexander Bickel, a well-known legal scholar, was the attorney for the New
York Times in the Pentagon Papers case that advanced First Amendment press
freedom.
Alexander Meiklejohn argued that the First Amendment’s primary purpose is
to ensure that voters are free to debate in order to make informed choices
about their self-government.
Andrea Dworkin, a radical feminist writer and theorist, rejected First
Amendment protections for pornography, arguing that pornography encourages
violence against women.
C. Edwin Baker was a leading First Amendment scholar who wrote Human
Liberty and Freedom of Speech. He described the liberty model justification
for freedom of expression.
Feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon argues that pornography should
be illegal as it perpetuates sexual inequality. She has faced pushback from
First Amendment proponents.
Clay Calvert is a First Amendment scholar who has authored First Amendment
law articles on topics including broadcast indecency and recording of
police activities.
Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the foremost constitutional law scholars and
Supreme Court lawyers, writes on First Amendment issues and argues First
Amendment cases before the Court.
As solicitor general, Erwin Griswold unsuccessfully argued that the
security concerns of the Pentagon Papers outweighed the First Amendment
rights of a free press.
Frederick Schauer’s First Amendment writings are notable for their
philosophical rigor, passionately favoring free speech but critiquing
arguments for it.
Geoffrey Stone is a First Amendment scholar and a law professor at the
University of Chicago who has written and edited numerous books on free
expression.
Harry Kalven Jr. was University of Chicago law professor best known for
advocacy of and thoughtful writings about First Amendment freedom of speech
and expression.
Harry Weinberger was a litigator for numerous civil liberties and First
Amendment causes in the early 1900s, including theater censorship and the
military draft.
Herbert Wechsler was a leading lawyer and legal scholar best known in First
Amendment circles for arguing the landmark libel case New York Times Co. v.
Sullivan.
A prominent legal scholar, John Hart Ely contributed to First Amendment
jurisprudence. He argues against strict absolutism in interpreting the
Constitution.
Kevin F. O’Neill is a law professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
who writes frequently on First Amendment issues. He oversaw First Amendment
cases at the ACLU of Ohio.
Laurence Tribe, a professor at Harvard Law School, is regarded as one of
the preeminent scholars in the field of constitutional law and First
Amendment scholarship.
Leo Pfeffer, one of the twentieth century’s most active litigators on
church-state issues, participated in several First Amendment cases before
the U.S. Supreme Court.
Leonard W. Levy was an influential scholar and historian whose works on the
Constitution and Bill of Rights have been cited in numerous First Amendment
cases.
Norman Dorsen was a leading civil liberties lawyer. He made many of his
contributions to First Amendment jurisprudence during his career at the
American Civil Liberties Union.
Paul Abraham Freund, a law professor at Harvard University, played a
critical part in the movement to better protect the individual liberties of
the First Amendment.
Paul Murphy was an advocate of First Amendment freedoms and a leader in the
fields of civil liberties. He was known for studying the First Amendment in
World War I.
Richard Allen Posner, one of the most influential jurists and legal
theorists in the United States today, has written numerous First Amendment
opinions as an appellate judge.
Judge Robert Bork, who served as solicitor general for President Nixon,
believed the First Amendment free speech protection only applied to
political speech.
Robert O’Neil (1934-2018) was an authority on First Amendment issues,
writing several books and amicus curiae briefs on First Amendment cases
that reached the Supreme Court. He also was the founding director of the
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.
Rodney Smolla is an influential First Amendment attorney and scholar who
has argued cases before the Supreme Court, including the Virginia
cross-burning case.
Ronald Collins is a First Amendment scholar, author and advocate who has
written widely on First Amendment issues. He is currently editor of First
Amendment News.
Stephen Barnett was a law professor at the University of California,
Berkeley known for his passion for the First Amendment and his fearlessness
in combatting government secrecy.
Thomas Cooley was a prominent jurist and legal writer during the second
half of the nineteenth century who strongly defended property rights and
First Amendment freedoms.
Thomas Emerson was arguably the foremost First Amendment scholar of his
generation. Emerson’s book on free speech remains one of the seminal works
in First Amendment history.
In his Commentaries on the Laws of England, Sir William Blackstone outlined
the principles of liberty that were later the foundations of the First
Amendment.
