James Weinstein, the Amelia Lewis Professor of Constitutional Law, is one of eight leading First Amendment scholars who will speak as part of the upcoming University of Virginia Law Review Symposium on Free Speech on Oct. 23.

 

Weinstein will present on “Participatory Democracy as the Basis of American Free Speech Doctrine,” along with Robert C. Post, Dean of Yale Law School. Their presentation will be moderated by M. Elizabeth Magill, Vice Dean of the University of Virginia School of Law.

 

The symposium—hosted by the Virginia Law Review—will feature Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as its keynote speaker.

 

In addition to Weinstein and Post, participants include: Eugene Volokh, UCLA School of Law, Fred Schauer, Virginia Law School, Vincent Blasi, Columbia Law School, Steven Shiffrin, Cornell Law School, Susan Williams, University of Indiana College of Law, and Seana Shiffrin, UCLA School of Law and UCLA Philosophy.

 

The scholars will debate the proper theoretical foundations for the constitutional protection of free speech. They will also examine the impact of these theoretical debates on recent and upcoming free speech cases, including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (campaign finance), Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (material support to terrorists), Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (freedom of assembly and freedom of religion for student organizations), Stevens v. United States (animal crush videos), and Snyder v. Phelps (funeral protesting).

 

Weinstein’s areas of academic interest are Constitutional Law, especially Free Speech, as well as Jurisprudence, Federal Courts, Civil Procedure and Legal History. He is co-editor of Extreme Speech and Democracy, and has written numerous articles in law review symposia on a variety of free speech topics, including: obscenity doctrine, institutional review boards, commercial speech, database protection, campaign finance reform, the relationship between free speech and other constitutional rights, hate crimes, and campus speech codes. Weinstein also has written several articles on the history of personal jurisdiction and its implication for modern doctrine.