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All Episodes

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast — 279 episodes

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1

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

2

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

3

Ep. 272: FIRE Monthly Member Webinar - May 2026

4

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

5

FIRE Reacts: Comey, Kimmel, ABC & the FCC

6

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

7

Ep. 269: Is free speech declining worldwide?

8

Ep. 268: News and misinformation in early America

9

Ep. 267: Social media = cigarettes?

10

Ep. 266: How foreign censors target American speakers

11

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

12

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

13

Ep. 263: Free speech in Trump 2.0

14

Ep. 262: Escaping Iran

15

Ep. 261: Thomas Paine's rise and fall

16

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

17

Ep. 259: FIRE answers your questions

18

Ep. 258: Donor disclosure and campaign finance at SCOTUS

19

Ep. 257: Conversion therapy at the Supreme Court

20

Ep. 256: Ten arguments against free speech

21

Ep. 255: Authoritarians in the Academy

22

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

23

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

24

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

25

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

26

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

27

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

28

Ep. 248: Commercial speech and the First Amendment

29

Ep. 247: Justin Amash

30

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

31

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

32

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

33

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

34

Ep. 242: Is cancel culture dead?

35

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

36

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

37

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

38

Ep. 238: On Mahmoud Khalil

39

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

40

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

41

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

42

Ep. 234: The Chicago Canon

43

Ep. 233: Rethinking free speech with Peter Ives

44

Ep. 232: We answer your free speech questions

45

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

46

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

47

Ep. 229: Ayaan Hirsi Ali will not submit

48

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

49

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

50

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

51

Ep. 225: Debating social media content moderation

52

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

53

Ep. 223: Teaching conservatism on a liberal college campus

54

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

55

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

56

Ep. 220: Political violence and speech

57

Ep. 219: The First Amendment at the Supreme Court

58

Ep. 218: A warning label on social media?

59

Ep. 217: 'Defending pornography'

60

Ep. 216: Section 230 and online content moderation

61

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

62

Ep. 214: The Antisemitism Awareness Act

63

Ep. 213: Campus unrest - live webinar

64

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

65

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

66

Ep. 210: The First Amendment at the Supreme Court

67

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

68

Ep. 208: Dodging censorship in Russia

69

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

70

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

71

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

72

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

73

Ep. 203: 'Undefeated' with Coach Bill Courtney

74

Ep. 202: The backpage.com saga

75

Ep. 201: Crisis on Campus - X Space recording

76

Ep. 200: The state of free speech

77

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

78

Ep. 198: 2023-24 Supreme Court Preview

79

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

80

Ep. 196 'The Identity Trap' by Yascha Mounk

81

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

82

Ep. 194 Harvey Silverglate, the beatnik criminal defense attorney

83

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

84

Ep. 192 Free speech at the Supreme Court

85

Ep. 191 Civil liberties and Civil War

86

Ep. 190 Free speech and Abolitionism

87

Ep. 189 Why should we care about punk rock?

88

Ep. 188 How to make a winning free speech argument

89

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

90

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

91

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

92

Ep. 184 What's going on in Florida?

93

Ep. 183 The Stanford shout-down with David Lat

94

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

95

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

96

Ep. 180 Super Bowl free speech fumble

97

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

98

Ep. 178 The costs of offending religious sensitivities

99

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

100

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

101

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

102

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

103

Ep. 173 Does your book need a sensitivity reader?

104

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

105

Ep. 171 Nature Human Misbehavior

106

Ep. 170 Free speech and the American Founding

107

Ep. 169 The Art of Insubordination

108

Ep. 168 Assassin's veto comes for Rushdie

109

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

110

Ep. 166 Substack, a platform for free speech?

111

Ep. 165 Title IX gets twisted again

112

Ep. 164 'The First Amendment created gay America'

113

Ep. 163 The new FIRE

114

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

115

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

116

Ep. 160 Hugh Hefner, free speech scrapbooker

117

Ep. 159 Disney and Elon Musk

118

Ep. 158 What is academic freedom?

119

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

120

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

121

Ep. 155 The John Roberts Supreme Court

122

Ep. 154 Sarah Palin v. New York Times

123

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

124

Ep. 152 Banning critical race theory

125

Ep. 151 Fighting words

126

Ep. 150 George Orwell

127

Ep. 149 Caitlin Flanagan and Greg Lukianoff

128

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

129

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

130

Ep. 146 Trigger warnings and DEI statements

131

Ep. 145 First Amendment history with Yale Professor Akhil Amar

132

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

133

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

134

Ep. 142 Alfred Hitchcock and Hollywood's Production Code

135

Ep. 141 Morris Ernst, Free Speech Renegade

136

Ep. 140 Free speech, psychology, and madness

137

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

138

Ep. 138 A history of Western censorship with Eric Berkowitz

139

Ep. 137 The Constitution of Knowledge with Jonathan Rauch

140

Ep. 136 Comic book panic!

141

Ep. 135 Are education schools secretly driving campus censorship?

142

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

143

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

144

Ep. 132 Academic Freedom Alliance with Keith Whittington

145

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

146

Ep. 130 Stonewalling by the University of California

147

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

148

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

149

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

150

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

151

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

152

Ep. 124 'Burning the Books' with Richard Ovenden

153

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

154

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

155

Ep. 121 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards

156

Ep. 120.1 Mighty Ira documentary watch-along

157

Ep. 120 'Mighty Ira' Glasser

158

Ep. 119 2020 College Free Speech Rankings

159

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

160

Ep. 117 What a summer …

161

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

162

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

163

Ep. 114 Glenn Loury objects

164

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

165

Ep. 113 Charlottesville reflections with Rodney Smolla

166

Ep. 112 College social media censorship

167

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

168

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

169

Ep. 109 Censorship pandemic

170

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

171

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

172

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

173

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

174

Ep. 105 'Rap on Trial'

175

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

176

Ep. 103 Guns, addiction, and the press

177

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

178

Ep. 101 McCarthyism and The Red Scare

179

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

180

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

181

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

182

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

183

Ep. 96 Who was Hayden C. Covington?

184

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

185

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

186

Ep. 93 'Coddling' one year later

187

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

188

Ep. 91 'The Grievance Studies Affair'

189

Ep. 90 'David French-ism'

190

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

191

Ep. 88 Defending libraries with James LaRue

192

Ep. 87 Intellectual property 101

193

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

194

Ep. 85 Wen Fa of the Pacific Legal Foundation

195

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

196

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

197

Ep. 82 'Can free speech be progressive?'

198

Ep. 81 Techdirt's Mike Masnick

199

Ep. 80 Ten Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2019

200

Ep. 79 Former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith

201

Ep. 78 LGBT equality and the First Amendment

202

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

203

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

204

Ep. 75 Against 'Free Speech' with Anthony Leaker

205

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

206

Ep. 73 'Uncensored' with Zachary Wood

207

Ep. 72 'Bodied' with director Joseph Kahn

208

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

209

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

210

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

211

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

212

Ep. 67 'The Coddling of the American Mind'

213

Ep. 66 Outrage mobs in comedy

214

Ep. 65 Artificial intelligence & speech rights

215

Ep. 64 How censorship crosses borders with Jacob Mchangama

216

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

217

Ep. 62 Most memorable FIRE cases

218

Ep. 61 'HATE' with Nadine Strossen

219

Ep. 60 'Speak Freely' with Professor Keith Whittington

220

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

221

Ep. 58 'Lust on Trial' with Amy Werbel

222

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

223

Ep. 56 Have you been defamed?

224

Ep. 55 Is there a campus free speech crisis?

225

Ep. 54 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission

226

Ep. 53 Bret Weinstein, professor in exile

227

Ep. 52 The Great Firewall of China

228

Ep. 51 University of Alaska President Emeritus Mark Hamilton

229

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

230

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

231

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

232

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

233

Ep. 46 Revisiting Masses v. Patten (1917)

234

Ep. 45 Harvard professor Steven Pinker

235

Ep. 44 Berkeley then and now

236

Ep. 43 LIVE EVENT: Viewpoint diversity on campus

237

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

238

Ep. 41 The British free speech invasion

239

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

240

Ep. 39 Judge Richard Posner on the First Amendment

241

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

242

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

243

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

244

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

245

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

246

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

247

Ep. 32 Tyler Cowen on the complacent campus

248

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

249

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

250

Ep. 29 Former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser

251

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

252

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

253

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

254

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

255

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

256

Ep. 23 Rob Corry, 'speech code slayer'

257

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

258

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

259

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

260

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

261

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

262

Ep. 17 ACLU National Legal Director David Cole

263

Ep. 16 Free Speech Profiles: Attorney Martin Garbus

264

Ep. 15 Denying the Holocaust

265

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

266

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

267

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

268

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

269

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

270

Ep. 9 Alice Dreger on Academic Freedom

271

Ep. 8 'The Trials of Lenny Bruce'

272

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

273

Ep. 6 The Summer Interns Take Over

274

Ep. 5 Aryeh Neier on "Defending My Enemy"

275

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

276

Ep. 3 David Baugh on 'Defending My Enemy'

277

Ep. 2 Glenn Greenwald On "Defending My Enemy"

278

Ep. 1 Jonathan Rauch's "Kindly Inquisitors"

279

Welcome!