The soul of the First Amendment

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2017

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Celebrated First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams examines the degree to which American law protects free speech more often, more intensely, and more controversially than anywhere else in the world. Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. We want to know what you think of the podcast! Email us at [email protected]. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network. Check out the full roster of podcasts at Panoply.fm. Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more. This show was engineered by David Stotz and edited by Jason Gregory. It was produced by Nicandro Iannacci. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Nacondra Janache, producer of We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:09.2	Jeffrey Rosen is away this week.
0:11.8	The National Constitution Center is the
0:15.0	only institution in America chartered by Congress to disseminate information
0:19.0	about the US Constitution on a nonpartisan-partisan basis.
0:23.6	On today's show we listen in to a recent conversation Jeff had with Floyd Abrams, the
0:29.1	legendary First Amendment attorney of firm Cahill Gordon, who argued Citizens United and the Pentagon Papers
0:35.3	case among many many others. Abrams here discusses his new book, The Soul of the First Amendment, which explores how and why America protects
0:46.6	free speech more often, more intensely, and more controversially than anywhere else in the world.
0:54.0	The program was part of America's Town Hall,
0:57.0	the Constitution Center's ongoing series of constitutional conversations and debates,
1:02.0	held here in Philadelphia and across the country.
1:05.0	You can visit our website at Constitution Center.org slash debate to learn more.
1:11.0	And now here's Jeff to get us started.
1:16.0	Floyd, welcome back. It's such an honor to always have you
1:23.2	at the Constitution Center.
1:24.2	Congratulations on this magnificent book.
1:26.4	And I want to start with the French election.
1:29.1	So in France, there is a ban on discussing the election several days before it.
1:35.0	How is that possible?
1:37.0	What are the consequences and why does our First Amendment forbid that?
1:40.0	I mean think of it.
	...

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