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All Episodes

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast — 284 episodes

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Title
1

Ep. 279: Legendary lawyer Michael Tigar on juries, free speech, and the trial of John Peter Zenger

2

Ep. 278: The Trump admin wants to change how scientific research is funded w/ Catharine Young, Evan Morris, and Ryne Weiss

3

Ep. 277: Ada Palmer on the history of censorship from the Renaissance to AI

4

Ep. 276: Book banning's trial of the century w/ Anthony Aycock

5

Ep. 275: Stress-testing the limits of the First Amendment w/ Chaz Stevens

6

Ep. 274: Financial censorship: how banks silence speech w/ Rainey Reitman

7

Ep. 273: Debating Super PACs and campaign finance w/ Larry Lessig and Paul Sherman

8

Ep. 272: FIRE Monthly Member Webinar - May 2026

9

Ep. 271: Minecraft, censorship, and threats to press freedom with Clayton Weimers

10

FIRE Reacts: Comey, Kimmel, ABC & the FCC

11

Ep. 270: The fight for privacy and free speech in the surveillance age

12

Ep. 269: Is free speech declining worldwide?

13

Ep. 268: News and misinformation in early America

14

Ep. 267: Social media = cigarettes?

15

Ep. 266: How foreign censors target American speakers

16

Ep. 265: Anthropic, age verification laws, and press freedom

17

Ep. 264: Anonymity from the founding to the digital age

18

Ep. 263: Free speech in Trump 2.0

19

Ep. 262: Escaping Iran

20

Ep. 261: Thomas Paine's rise and fall

21

Ep. 260: Remembering 'free-thinking' writer Nat Hentoff

22

Ep. 259: FIRE answers your questions

23

Ep. 258: Donor disclosure and campaign finance at SCOTUS

24

Ep. 257: Conversion therapy at the Supreme Court

25

Ep. 256: Ten arguments against free speech

26

Ep. 255: Authoritarians in the Academy

27

Ep. 254: What is going on with the FCC?

28

Ep. 253: Pam Bondi says hate speech is not free speech — is she right?

29

Ep. 252: America's first free speech crisis — the Sedition Act of 1798

30

Ep. 251: Free speech and 'the executive power' with Advisory Opinions

31

Ep. 250: Civil rights, hate speech, and the First Amendment

32

Ep. 249: FIRE Reacts — Where does Harvard go from here? With Larry Summers

33

Ep. 248: Commercial speech and the First Amendment

34

Ep. 247: Justin Amash

35

Ep. 246: Tech check — AI moratorium, Character AI lawsuit, FTC, Digital Services Act, and FSC v. Paxton

36

Ep. 245: The Supreme Court's decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton

37

Ep. 244: Censoring lawmakers, T-shirts, and seashells

38

Ep. 243: Heather Mac Donald on Trump and free speech

39

Ep. 242: Is cancel culture dead?

40

Ep. 241: The government's money, the government's rules?

41

Ep. 240: Is there a global free speech recession?

42

Ep. 239: Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, DEI, law firms, and more

43

Ep. 238: On Mahmoud Khalil

44

Ep. 237: A tech policy bonanza! The FCC, FTC, AI regulations, and more

45

Ep. 236: JD Vance, 60 Minutes, the Associated Press, the FCC, and more

46

Ep. 235: Cancel culture, legal education, and the Supreme Court with Ilya Shapiro

47

Ep. 234: The Chicago Canon

48

Ep. 233: Rethinking free speech with Peter Ives

49

Ep. 232: We answer your free speech questions

50

Ep. 231: What is academic freedom? With Keith Whittington

51

Ep. 230: Wilson vs. FDR: Who was worse for free speech?

52

Ep. 229: Ayaan Hirsi Ali will not submit

53

Ep. 228: Does artificial intelligence have free speech rights?

54

Ep. 227: Should there be categories of unprotected speech?

55

Ep. 226: 'Shouting fire,' deepfake laws, tenured professors, and mask bans

56

Ep. 225: Debating social media content moderation

57

Ep. 224: Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and free speech

58

Ep. 223: Teaching conservatism on a liberal college campus

59

Ep. 222: John Stuart Mill's lasting impact on the Supreme Court

60

Ep. 221: Section 230 co-author, Rep. Christopher Cox

61

Ep. 220: Political violence and speech

62

Ep. 219: The First Amendment at the Supreme Court

63

Ep. 218: A warning label on social media?

64

Ep. 217: 'Defending pornography'

65

Ep. 216: Section 230 and online content moderation

66

Ep. 215: 'Private Censorship' with J.P. Messina

67

Ep. 214: The Antisemitism Awareness Act

68

Ep. 213: Campus unrest - live webinar

69

Ep. 212: Should the First Amendment protect hate speech?

70

Ep. 211: Generational differences and civil liberties with Neil Howe

71

Ep. 210: The First Amendment at the Supreme Court

72

Ep. 209: 'Is money speech?' with Robert Breedlove

73

Ep. 208: Dodging censorship in Russia

74

Ep. 207 Free speech news: NetChoice, Taylor Swift, October 7, and Satan

75

Ep. 206: CJ Hopkins compared modern Germany to Nazi Germany. Now he's standing trial.

76

Ep. 205: An anarchist's perspective with Michael Malice

77

Ep. 204: "Liar in a Crowded Theater" with Jeff Kosseff

78

Ep. 203: 'Undefeated' with Coach Bill Courtney

79

Ep. 202: The backpage.com saga

80

Ep. 201: Crisis on Campus - X Space recording

81

Ep. 200: The state of free speech

82

Ep. 199: Israel, Hamas, and censorship at home

83

Ep. 198: 2023-24 Supreme Court Preview

84

Ep. 197 'Are cakes speech?' with Alliance Defending Freedom's Kristen Waggoner

85

Ep. 196 'The Identity Trap' by Yascha Mounk

86

Ep. 195 'Don't Tread on Me,' misgendering, cancel culture, and three strikes for Texas

87

Ep. 194 Harvey Silverglate, the beatnik criminal defense attorney

88

Ep. 193 Can you still have a debate in high school debate?

89

Ep. 192 Free speech at the Supreme Court

90

Ep. 191 Civil liberties and Civil War

91

Ep. 190 Free speech and Abolitionism

92

Ep. 189 Why should we care about punk rock?

93

Ep. 188 How to make a winning free speech argument

94

Ep. 187 Dominion vs. Fox lawyers reflect on historic case

95

Ep. 186 Killer Mike on free speech, racial justice, and Rap on Trial

96

Ep. 185 Sex, drugs, and free speech (Bob Guccione Jr. and Nick Gillespie)

97

Ep. 184 What's going on in Florida?

98

Ep. 183 The Stanford shout-down with David Lat

99

Ep. 182 Ilya Shapiro on Fox/Dominion and his 'cancel culture nightmare'

100

Ep. 181 New York Times v. Sullivan and its future

101

Ep. 180 Super Bowl free speech fumble

102

Ep. 179 Artificial intelligence: Is it protected by the First Amendment?

103

Ep. 178 The costs of offending religious sensitivities

104

Ep. 177 Are Ann Coulter's words really 'violence'?

105

Ep. 176 Can a graphic designer be compelled to design a website for a same-sex wedding?

106

Ep. 175 Jawboning, book banning, and LeBron James thinks hate speech isn't free speech (also Elon Musk … again)

107

Ep. 174 Elon Musk, PayPal, and is New York trying to destroy Twitch?

108

Ep. 173 Does your book need a sensitivity reader?

109

Ep. 172 What does the First Amendment protect on social media?

110

Ep. 171 Nature Human Misbehavior

111

Ep. 170 Free speech and the American Founding

112

Ep. 169 The Art of Insubordination

113

Ep. 168 Assassin's veto comes for Rushdie

114

Ep. 167 That Facebook post about abortion could land you in jail

115

Ep. 166 Substack, a platform for free speech?

116

Ep. 165 Title IX gets twisted again

117

Ep. 164 'The First Amendment created gay America'

118

Ep. 163 The new FIRE

119

Ep. 162 "Parental Advisory" and music censorship with Eric Nuzum

120

Ep. 161 What did 'On the Media' get wrong about free speech … again?

121

Ep. 160 Hugh Hefner, free speech scrapbooker

122

Ep. 159 Disney and Elon Musk

123

Ep. 158 What is academic freedom?

124

Ep. 157 Former BBC bureau chief Konstantin Eggert and what you need to know about censorship in Russia

125

Ep. 156 What Russians don't know about the war in Ukraine ​

126

Ep. 155 The John Roberts Supreme Court

127

Ep. 154 Sarah Palin v. New York Times

128

Ep. 153 Elitist vs. egalitarian free speech (live recording, Q&A)

129

Ep. 152 Banning critical race theory

130

Ep. 151 Fighting words

131

Ep. 150 George Orwell

132

Ep. 149 Caitlin Flanagan and Greg Lukianoff

133

Ep. 148 University of Austin, a new university devoted to free speech

134

Ep. 147 'The Mind of the Censor' with Robert Corn-Revere

135

Ep. 146 Trigger warnings and DEI statements

136

Ep. 145 First Amendment history with Yale Professor Akhil Amar

137

Ep. 144 Matt Taibbi, Nadine Strossen, and Amna Khalid respond to 'On the Media' free speech critiques

138

Ep. 143 Politics and thought reform in K-12 education

139

Ep. 142 Alfred Hitchcock and Hollywood's Production Code

140

Ep. 141 Morris Ernst, Free Speech Renegade

141

Ep. 140 Free speech, psychology, and madness

142

Ep. 139 Mahanoy v. B.L. Supreme Court ruling analysis

143

Ep. 138 A history of Western censorship with Eric Berkowitz

144

Ep. 137 The Constitution of Knowledge with Jonathan Rauch

145

Ep. 136 Comic book panic!

146

Ep. 135 Are education schools secretly driving campus censorship?

147

Ep. 134 A cheerleader's free speech case lands at the Supreme Court

148

[FIXED] Ep. 133 University of Wisconsin Professor Donald Downs

149

Ep. 132 Academic Freedom Alliance with Keith Whittington

150

Ep. 131 'Incitement' with David L. Hudson Jr.

151

Ep. 130 Stonewalling by the University of California

152

Ep. 129 'The Fight for Free Speech' with Ian Rosenberg

153

Ep. 128 John McWhorter says academics are really, really worried

154

Ep. 127 What happened to American childhood? with Kate Julian and Greg Lukianoff

155

Ep. 126 Free speech after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

156

Ep. 125 National Review's Charles C.W. Cooke

157

Ep. 124 'Burning the Books' with Richard Ovenden

158

Ep. 123 Campus mobs, heckler's vetoes, racial segregation, and a rogue student government!

159

Ep. 122 U.S Constitution masterclass with Judge Douglas Ginsburg

160

Ep. 121 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards

161

Ep. 120.1 Mighty Ira documentary watch-along

162

Ep. 120 'Mighty Ira' Glasser

163

Ep. 119 2020 College Free Speech Rankings

164

Ep. 118 David Goldberger, lead attorney in "the Skokie case"

165

Ep. 117 What a summer …

166

Ep. 116 'Journal of Controversial Ideas' with Prof. Peter Singer

167

Ep. 115 'Dare to Speak' with PEN America's Suzanne Nossel

168

Ep. 114 Glenn Loury objects

169

Rebroadcast: How Daryl Davis, a black man, defeats the Ku Klux Klan with open dialogue

170

Ep. 113 Charlottesville reflections with Rodney Smolla

171

Ep. 112 College social media censorship

172

Ep. 111 'Dear Colleague,' due process now required. Title IX rules analysis.

173

Ep. 110 The Constitution in the age of coronavirus w/ Prof. Josh Blackman

174

Ep. 109 Censorship pandemic

175

Ep. 108 A history of (dis)information wars in the Soviet Union and beyond

176

Ep. 107.1 "Coronavirus and the failure of the 'Marketplace of Ideas'"

177

Ep. 107 FIRE, the coronavirus, and the failure of the 'Marketplace of Ideas'

178

Ep. 106 'Free speech and justified true belief' w/ prof. Joseph Blocher

179

Ep. 105 'Rap on Trial'

180

Ep. 104 Violent video games with Villanova Professor Patrick M. Markey

181

Ep. 103 Guns, addiction, and the press

182

Ep. 102 Cultural sites, slurs, antisemitism, and Title IX

183

Ep. 101 McCarthyism and The Red Scare

184

The 100th episode: The state of free speech in America

185

Ep. 99 John Stuart Mill's 'On Liberty'

186

Ep. 98 'The First Amendment in the Trump Era' w/ Professor Timothy Zick

187

Ep. 97 There's no such thing as free speech, argues Stanley Fish

188

Ep. 96 Who was Hayden C. Covington?

189

Ep. 95 Twenty years of FIRE with co-founder Harvey Silverglate

190

Ep. 94 Kevin Williamson's 'The Smallest Minority'

191

Ep. 93 'Coddling' one year later

192

Ep. 92 Free speech, privacy, and President Trump's Twitter account w/ Alex Abdo

193

Ep. 91 'The Grievance Studies Affair'

194

Ep. 90 'David French-ism'

195

Ep. 89 Prof. Samuel Abrams wrote an op-ed encouraging viewpoint diversity. Then came the fallout.

196

Ep. 88 Defending libraries with James LaRue

197

Ep. 87 Intellectual property 101

198

Ep. 86 Words, Violence, and Censorship at Williams College

199

Ep. 85 Wen Fa of the Pacific Legal Foundation

200

Ep. 84 The fight to publish Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl'

201

Ep. 83 Mustafa Akyol on jailing journalists in Turkey, 're-educating' Uyghurs in China, and cultural conformity in America

202

Ep. 82 'Can free speech be progressive?'

203

Ep. 81 Techdirt's Mike Masnick

204

Ep. 80 Ten Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2019

205

Ep. 79 Former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith

206

Ep. 78 LGBT equality and the First Amendment

207

Ep. 77 Campus speech roundup: Art censorship, porn filters, speech restrictions abroad, and litigation victories

208

Ep. 76 From black armbands to the U.S. Supreme Court

209

Ep. 75 Against 'Free Speech' with Anthony Leaker

210

Ep. 74 'The Half-Life of Facts' with Samuel Arbesman

211

Ep. 73 'Uncensored' with Zachary Wood

212

Ep. 72 'Bodied' with director Joseph Kahn

213

Ep. 71 Thinking about free speech in bets with Annie Duke

214

Ep. 70 Free speech in the digital age with Jameel Jaffer

215

Ep. 69 Former Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr.

216

Ep. 68 'True threats' with David L. Hudson Jr.

217

Ep. 67 'The Coddling of the American Mind'

218

Ep. 66 Outrage mobs in comedy

219

Ep. 65 Artificial intelligence & speech rights

220

Ep. 64 How censorship crosses borders with Jacob Mchangama

221

Ep. 63 Supreme Court review: Kennedy, Kavanaugh, and "weaponizing the First Amendment"

222

Ep. 62 Most memorable FIRE cases

223

Ep. 61 'HATE' with Nadine Strossen

224

Ep. 60 'Speak Freely' with Professor Keith Whittington

225

Ep. 59 Debating 'Is there a campus free speech crisis?' with Sullivan, Haidt, Nossel, Sachs, & Foster

226

Ep. 58 'Lust on Trial' with Amy Werbel

227

Ep. 57 Exploring threats to a free press with Laura Handman

228

Ep. 56 Have you been defamed?

229

Ep. 55 Is there a campus free speech crisis?

230

Ep. 54 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission

231

Ep. 53 Bret Weinstein, professor in exile

232

Ep. 52 The Great Firewall of China

233

Ep. 51 University of Alaska President Emeritus Mark Hamilton

234

Ep. 50 Randall Kennedy on 'The Forgotten Origins of the Constitution on Campus'

235

Ep. 49 "The Great Dissent" w/ Professor Thomas Healy

236

Ep. 48 'Natural Rights and the First Amendment' w/ Jud Campbell

237

Ep. 47 Institute for Justice President and General Counsel Scott Bullock

238

Ep. 46 Revisiting Masses v. Patten (1917)

239

Ep. 45 Harvard professor Steven Pinker

240

Ep. 44 Berkeley then and now

241

Ep. 43 LIVE EVENT: Viewpoint diversity on campus

242

Ep. 42 'Is this the day the Internet dies?'

243

Ep. 41 The British free speech invasion

244

Ep. 40 "The neurodiversity case for free speech" w/ Geoffrey Miller

245

Ep. 39 Judge Richard Posner on the First Amendment

246

Ep. 38 "After Charlottesville" w/ former ACLU President Nadine Strossen

247

Ep. 37 Fredrik deBoer on the growing distrust of higher ed

248

Ep. 36 The life of Louis Brandeis w/ Jeffrey Rosen

249

Ep. 35 Et tu, hecklers? Howard Sherman on defending the arts

250

Ep. 34 The 100th anniversary of the Espionage Act of 1917

251

Ep. 33 The Slants win at the U.S. Supreme Court!

252

Ep. 32 Tyler Cowen on the complacent campus

253

Ep. 31 Campus free speech round table: spring 2017 semester in review

254

Ep. 30 Eugene Volokh and new frontiers in the First Amendment

255

Ep. 29 Former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser

256

Ep. 28 'Sex and the Constitution' with professor Geoffrey R. Stone

257

Ep. 27 The 'heckler's veto' strikes Heather Mac Donald

258

Ep. 26 Putting money where your mouth is: campaign finance and free speech

259

Ep. 25 Bob Corn-Revere on censorship: the 'bastard child of technology'

260

Ep. 24 How Daryl Davis, a black man, defeats the KKK w/ dialogue

261

Ep. 23 Rob Corry, 'speech code slayer'

262

Ep. 22 Flemming Rose, Editor of 'the Muhammad Cartoons'

263

Ep. 21 The 'Turkey Purge' w/ Prof. Beth Baron

264

Ep. 20 The 'Turkey Purge' w/ Mahir Zeynalov

265

Ep. 19 Ken White of 'Popehat' Talks Nat Hentoff, Worst Censors of 2016

266

Ep. 18 Campus Free Speech Round Table: Fall 2016 Semester in Review

267

Ep. 17 ACLU National Legal Director David Cole

268

Ep. 16 Free Speech Profiles: Attorney Martin Garbus

269

Ep. 15 Denying the Holocaust

270

Ep. 14 NYU Professor Stephen Solomon's 'Revolutionary Dissent'

271

Ep. 13 spiked's Brendan O'Neill on the Fight for Free Speech Overseas

272

Ep. 12 Flying Dog Brewery: 'Good Beer, No Censorship'

273

Ep. 11 Robert Shibley's 'Twisting Title IX'

274

Ep. 10 Jason Riley on Being 'Disinvited' from Campus

275

Ep. 9 Alice Dreger on Academic Freedom

276

Ep. 8 'The Trials of Lenny Bruce'

277

Ep. 7 The Daughters: Carlin, Pryor, and Bruce Speak Out

278

Ep. 6 The Summer Interns Take Over

279

Ep. 5 Aryeh Neier on "Defending My Enemy"

280

Ep. 4 2015–16 Campus Free Speech Year in Review

281

Ep. 3 David Baugh on 'Defending My Enemy'

282

Ep. 2 Glenn Greenwald On "Defending My Enemy"

283

Ep. 1 Jonathan Rauch's "Kindly Inquisitors"

284

Welcome!