Trial Magazine

The Free Speech Century
Lee C. Bollinger & Geoffrey R. Stone (eds.)
Oxford University Press
www.global.oup.com
376 pp.; $21.95 (paperback)

This collection of 16 essays compiled by two leading First Amendment scholars explores the evolution of free speech law on the 100th anniversary of the seminal case Schenck v. United States, in which U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote that speech can be suppressed only when the government can demonstrate a “clear and present danger.” Contributing scholars examine critiques of this standard, from an exploration of the Citizens United decision and corporations’ speech rights to a critique of the Pentagon Papers case and government secrecy. Contributors also discuss the international implications of Americans’ freedom of expression and how new technologies and social media are transforming not only the quantity and types of speech but also who is in a position to regulate it.