Title: Free Speech Absolutism
Subtitle: Why The Constitution Of The United States Makes Free Speech Its Most Important Right
Subject Classification:  Law and Legal Ethics, Politics and Government, Philosophy  
BIC Classification: LA, JP, HP
BISAC Classification: LAW018000, POL035000, PHI019000
Binding: Hardback, eBook
Publication date: 04 Apr 2026
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-83711-649-2
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-83711-650-8

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Description

Despite the First Amendment’s promise that “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech,” congress and state legislatures have passed numerous laws recently that subordinate free speech rights to other social and political goals. While often enacted to censor expression that is unquestionably harmful and unpopular, these measures violate both the spirit and the letter of America’s national charter.

This book argues that the Supreme Court should embrace an absolutist view of free speech, especially when it comes to the expression of political views. It makes the case for protecting even the most dangerous and offensive ideas, including those found in anti-government propaganda, incitement to lawless conduct, disinformation, obscenity, and hate speech. Whatever harms may result from allowing citizens to speak freely, it explains, are ultimately redeemed by robust long-term social, political, and intellectual benefits. It also advocates for a broad understanding of academic freedom, which the Supreme Court has called a “special concern of the First Amendment.”

Biography

Author(s):  Nathan Goetting is a Professor of Criminal Justice and Jurisprudence at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan. He also holds a Prestige Faculty appointment at the University of Toledo College of Law.

Reviews

"Nathan Goetting makes the case I wish more legal scholars had the courage to make: that free speech means what it says. At a time when governments, courts, and institutions find ever more creative ways to punish unpopular expression, Free Speech Absolutism returns to first principles and refuses to flinch. Goetting shows that the First Amendment protects Eugene Debs and Donald Trump, Black Lives Matter leaders and their fiercest critics, not because we approve of what any of them say, but because the alternative is a government that decides which ideas we deserve to hear. This book arrives at exactly the right moment."
- Michael Shellenberger, author, Apocalypse Never and San Fransicko