New from Stanford University Press:
The Right’s First Amendment: The Politics of Free Speech & the Return of Conservative Libertarianism, by
Wayne Batchis (University of Delaware). A description from the Press:
Not so long ago, being aggressively "pro–free speech" was as closely
associated with American political liberalism as being pro-choice,
pro–affirmative action, or pro–gun control. With little notice, this
political dynamic has been shaken to the core. The Right's First Amendment examines how conservatives came to adopt and co-opt constitutional free speech rights.
In
the 1960s, free speech on college campuses was seen as a guarantee for
social agitators, hippies, and peaceniks. Today, for many conservatives,
it represents instead a crucial shield that protects traditionalists
from a perceived scourge of political correctness and liberal
oversensitivity. Over a similar period, free market conservatives have
risen up to embrace a once unknown, but now cherished, liberty: freedom
of commercial expression. What do these changes mean for the future of
First Amendment interpretation?
Wayne Batchis offers a fresh
entry point into these issues by grounding his study in both political
and legal scholarship. Surveying six decades of writings from the
preeminent conservative publication National Review alongside the
evolving constitutional law and ideological predispositions of Supreme
Court justices deciding these issues, Batchis asks the conservative
political movement to answer to its judicial logic, revealing how this
keystone of our civic American beliefs now carries a much more complex
and nuanced political identity.
A few blurbs:
"The Right's First Amendment is an important and very readable
guide to the transition from conservative moralism to conservative
libertarianism. Batchis expertly documents the powerful impact of this
thirty-year transition on constitutional law, politics, and the
development of free speech." —Mark Graber
"Wayne Batchis is a lawyer-political scientist who impressively
deploys both disciplines' approaches to improve our understanding of
conservative politics and constitutional principles. The Right's First Amendment
provides a compelling and important explanation of the political effort
to define conservatism and, in turn, the conservative effort to define
expressive freedom." —Douglas E. Edlin
More information is available
here.
