Number
109Q
CCN
33511
Times
Tu/Th 9:30-11am
Location
HMMB390
Course Description
This course covers law and politics of free speech, with particular emphasis on the United States. It will consider major justifications for free speech, including the value of self-expression and free speech as a means for the public to hold elected officials accountable; potential problems of free speech related to misinformation and hate speech; and legal and political dimensions of speech regulation by governments. A core theme of the course is that free speech is a political value as well as an individual legal right. Course readings will be drawn from fields of political science, history, law, and political theory, and course illustrations will focus in part on the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley.