‘Justice Alito’s First Amendment’

By Justin Silverman

Justice Alito

Suffolk University Law School will host its 5th annual Masterman Institute on March 6, featuring a discussion on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his approach to the First Amendment. The event is free and open to the public. Anyone interested in attending must RSVP. More information can be found here (.pdf).

According to event organizers,

“Justice Samuel Alito is now in his seventh year on the Supreme Court. He has participated in approximately twenty decisions involving the meaning and application of the First Amendment’s guarantee of ‘the freedom of speech.’ These decisions have involved such matters as campaign finance regulation, hate speech, government speech, offensive ideas and images, student speech, and speech that benefits terrorists. How, if at all, is his First Amendment jurisprudence similar to, or different from, his fellow Justices? What, in short, does the First Amendment mean to Justice Alito, and what does this tell us more generally about his overall approach to constitutional interpretation?”

To answer those questions, will be the following:

• Professor Geoffrey R. Stone, the event’s keynote speaker. Stone teaches and writes primarily in the area of constitutional law. His most recent book is Speaking Out! Reflections on Law, Liberty and Justice (2010). Stone’s Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (2004) received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for 2005.
• Robert A. Bertsche of Prince Lobel Tye LLP, a nationally known media lawyer. He is a visiting lecturer at Tufts University, where he teaches “Media Law and Ethics in a Digital World.”
• Karlene W. Goller, V. P., Legal and Deputy General Counsel for the Los Angeles Times, and Senior Counsel/West Coast Media for Tribune Co.
• Jim Newton, editor-at-large of the Los Angeles Times. He serves as a member of The Times’ editorial board, advises on editorial matters and writes and edits for the editorial page and Op-Ed, including a weekly column examining the policy and politics of Southern California.
• Professor Mary-Rose Papandrea of Boston College Law School. Papandrea is chairwoman of the AALS National Security Law Section and past chair of the Mass Communication Law Section.

The discussion will be moderated by Suffolk Law’s Jessica Silbey, and will be followed by a networking reception.