Professors Brownstein, Amar Cited on Free Speech in Chicago Tribune
An article co-authored by Associate Dean Vikram Amar and Professor Alan Brownstein was cited by Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page in an article on First Amendment issues raised by Snyder v. Phelps. The case, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, involves the pastor and members of a Kansas church who have picketed funerals of deceased American soldiers holding signs expressing anti-homosexual, anti-American, and anti-Catholic sentiments.
Page's column, "An ugly price to pay for free speech," cites an article published by Amar and Brownstein in the Cardozo Law Review and online at FindLaw.com asserting that the Court may find it possible to regulate such speech on the basis of the special vulnerability of the victims and the instrumentalization of the victims by the speakers. Page quotes from the article to note that "the Westboro protesters actually appear to be using the funeral participants as a ‘captive audience' and involuntary props to convey their message."
Clarence Page article: "An ugly price to pay for free speech"
Amar-Brownstein article: "The Supreme Court Case of Snyder v. Phelps: Testing America's Commitment to Protecting Even the Speech We Most Condemn"
