Free Speech Unmuted

The Supreme Court Rules on Protecting Kids from Sexually Themed Speech Online | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer discuss the Court’s June 27 decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, which upheld a state law that required pornography sites to “use reasonable age verification methods ... to verify” that their users are adults.

Recorded on July 1, 2025.

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Free Speech, Public School Students, and “There Are Only Two Genders” | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer discuss the First Amendment rules pertaining to public school students. The occasion: The Supreme Court just declined to consider a federal appeals court case that led a public school to punish a student for wearing a T-shirt saying “There Are Only Two Genders.” Did the lower court get that right?

Recorded on June 3, 2025. 

Can AI Companies Be Sued For What AI Says? | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

A mother sues Character.AI, claiming that a conversation between her teenage son and a Character.AI chatbot led him to commit suicide. A conservative activist sues Meta, claiming that its AI-generated false accusations about him. Jane Bambauer and Eugene Volokh analyze these cases, and more broadly, discuss lawsuits against AI companies, and possible First Amendment defenses to those lawsuits.

Recorded on May 6, 2025. 

Harvard v. Trump: Free Speech and Government Grants | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer discuss the Administration’s freezing of grants to Harvard, and Harvard’s lawsuit challenging the freeze.

The Trump Administration has announced that it was freezing grants to Harvard, and demanding that Harvard change many of its policies and practices in order to get back in the Administration’s good graces.  President Trump has also suggested that Harvard might lose its tax-exempt status for “pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness.’” Would such a cutoff of funding or tax exemption benefits violate the First Amendment? Jane and Eugene dig deep into that.

Recorded on April 22, 2025.

Trump’s War on Big Law | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer discuss President Trump’s Executive Orders that target major law firms (such as WilmerHale and Jenner & Block).

The orders target the firms for retaliation based largely on their past support of various left-wing legal causes. Do those Orders violate the firms’ (and their clients’) Free Speech Clause or Petition Clause rights? Might they also violate the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause (in civil cases) and the Sixth Amendment right to counsel (in criminal cases)?

Recorded on March 31, 2025.

Can Non-Citizens Be Deported For Their Speech? | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer discuss the First Amendment and immigration law.

Recorded on March 12, 2025.

Freedom of the Press, with Floyd Abrams | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

Does the Free Press Clause provide extra rights to the institutional press, or instead protect all speakers’ equal rights to use the printing press and its technological heirs? Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer discuss this and more with legendary First Amendment litigator Floyd Abrams.

Download the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review here: https://stanford.io/4bilFg0 

Recorded on February 21, 2025.

Free Speech, Private Power, and Private Employees | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer | Hoover Institution

​The Constitution generally covers only government action; if a private university expels students for their speech, or a private shopping mall forbids leafletting, or a private employer fires an employee for backing some candidate, that doesn’t violate the First Amendment. But state laws in roughly half the states do limit some such private restrictions on speech and political activity, especially ones imposed by private employers, much as federal law limits private employers’ restriction on their employees’ religious activity. Should there be more such laws? Fewer? Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer talk about this, and more.

Recorded on January 28, 2025.

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