Table of Contents
The First Amendment Salons
Research & Learn
The First Amendment Salon was founded in April 2014 by Ronald Collins, David Skover, and Lee Levine. The Salon hosts a series of non-partisan programs that aim to emulate the spirit of the U.S. Constitution’s Madisonian guarantee by opening a dialogue, at once robust and diverse, about free expression in America.
To that end, the Salon engages members of the First Amendment community—lawyers, academics, journalists, and activists—in an ongoing discussion of key free speech issues of our day. Each program involves a no-charge, 90-minute discussion concerning a timely topic related to freedom of expression, whether in a contemporary Supreme Court case, book, article, legal brief, or memorandum.
Twenty-five or more invitees gather at different venues and are electronically connected via videoconferencing. The Salons typically take place at the New York and Washington, D.C. offices of the law firm Ballard Spahr.
A reception either precedes or follows each discussion in order to develop a better sense of community. In March 2015, the Salons began to be video recorded. And in August 2015, the Salon first went “on the road,” beginning with an event in Los Angeles. Collins, Seth Berlin, Floyd Abrams, and Nadine Strossen serve as co-chairs of the Salon's advisory board.
Advisory Board
Jane Bambauer, University of Arizona Law School
Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California at Berkeley, School of Law
Robert Corn-Revere, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Lucy Dalglish, Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Jameel Jaffer, Knight First Amendment Institute
Jane Kirtley, University of Minnesota Law School
Lee Levine, Ballard Spahr
Robert Post, Yale Law School
David Schulz, Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression
David Skover, Seattle University Law School (emeritus)
Paul M. Smith, Jenner & Block, Georgetown Law Center
Geoffrey Stone, University of Chicago, School of Law
Eugene Volokh, UCLA School of Law
Sonja West, University of Georgia School of Law
Kyu Ho Youm, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
First Amendment Salon Video Playlist
All First Amendment Salons
- June 24, 2024, virtual conference: "On the Front Lines of Campus Speech Controversies" with Erwin Chemerinsky, Geoffrey Stone, and Seth Berlin.
- March 26, 2024, virtual conference: "The 1955 Emmett Till Murder Trial: Its Lasting Symbolic and Legal Legacy" with Ronald Collins and Jason Downs
- June 12, 2023, virtual conference: "The Newly Told Story of the Life & Legacy of New York Times v. Sullivan" with Samantha Barbas and Laura Handman
- May 9, 2023, virtual conference: "The Legacy of Dominion Voting Systems vs. Fox News Network" with Tom Clare and Dan Webb
- December 7, 2022, virtual conference: "Free Expression and Aiding and Abetting Laws in Post-Dobbs Times" with Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer
- May 16, 2022, virtual conference: "Combatting Disinformation & Embracing Free Speech: A Delicate Balance" with Richard Hasen, Laura Edelson, Alex Abdo
- February 15, 2022, virtual conference: "On National Security Leaks & Press Freedom – Charting a Path Forward" with Lee Bollinger, Geoffrey Stone, and Ellen Nakashima
- December 8, 2021, virtual conference: "The First Amendment Salon: On Censorship & the Ghost of Anthony Comstock" with Robert Corn-Revere and Katie Fallow
- July 13, 2021, virtual conference: "Saving the News: What is Allowed and What is Required to Protect The News Ecosystem?" with Martha Minow and Robert C. Post
- April 27, 2021, virtual conference: "Facial Recognition Data Gathering and the First Amendment" with Jane Bambauer, Vera Eidelman, and Katharine Larsen
- October 26, 2020, virtual conference: "Defending Free Speech for All" with Suzanne Nossel and Sonja West
- July 21, 2020, virtual conference: "The Supreme Court’s Term and the First Amendment" with Paul Clement and Floyd Abrams
- June 1, 2020, virtual conference: "Charlottesville and the Politics of Hate" with Rodney Smolla and Mary-Rose Papandrea
- January 22, 2020, Ballard Spahr, New York City: "Trump, Twitter, & the First Amendment" with Jameel Jaffer, Noah Feldman, and Francesca Procaccini
- November 18, 2019, Ballard Spahr, New York City: Professor Stanley Fish interviewed by Lynn Oberlander
- April 24, 2019, Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland: "Truth in Our Times" author and New York Times Deputy General Counsel David McCraw interviewed by Lucy Dalglish
- February 12, 2019: "20th First Amendment Salon" with Dan Bernstein
- December 4, 2018, Ballard Spahr, Washington, D.C.: "Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock" author Amy Werbel interviewed by Nadine Strossen
- September 13, 2018, Ballard Spahr, Washington, D.C.: Former Solicitor General of the United States Donald B. Verrilli Jr. interviewed by Ronald K.L. Collins
- April 27, 2018, New York City: "Rethinking Reno and Section 230: How should we regulate social media?" with Enrique Armijo, Genevieve Lakier, Morgan Weiland, moderated by Jack Balkin
- February 12, 2018, Ballard Spahr, Washington, D.C.: "Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission" with Robert Corn-Revere and Ilya Shapiro moderated by Steve Wermiel
- November 6, 2017, Thurgood Marshall Courthouse of the Second Circuit: "Rearguing Masses v. Patton (1917)" with Floyd Abrams and Kathleen Sullivan
- July 11, 2017, New York City: "Sex and the Constitution" with author Geoffrey Stone interviewed by Vincent Blasi
- April 5, 2017, Yale University: "The Soul of the First Amendment" with Floyd Abrams and Adam Liptak
- February 21, 2017, Los Angeles: "Supreme Court Nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch and the First Amendment" with Jim Newton and Eugene Volokh
- December 8, 2016, Washington, D.C.: "The ACLU & the First Amendment" with David Cole interviewed by Jess Bravin
- September 9, 2016, Floyd Abrams Institute, Yale Law School: "The First Amendment in a Revolutionary Era" with Stephen Solomon and Akhil Amar, moderated by Nadine Strossen
- May 16, 2016, University of Chicago Law School: "The Centrality of the First Amendment" with Geoffrey Stone and Richard Posner, moderated by Ronald K.L. Collins
- March 29, 2016, Washington, D.C.: "Cyber Harassment & The First Amendment" with Danielle Citron and Laura Handman, moderated by Ilya Shapiro
- November 2, 2015, Floyd Abrams Institute, Yale Law School: "Reed v. Town of Gilbert & the Future of the First Amendment" with Floyd Abrams and Robert Post, moderated by Linda Greenhouse
- August 26, 2015, Los Angeles, Davis Wright Tremaine: "The Roberts Court & the First Amendment" with Erwin Chemerinsky and Eugene Volokh, moderated by Kelli Sager
- March 30, 2015, Abrams Institute, Yale Law School: "Is the First Amendment Being Misused as a Deregulatory Tool?" with Jack Balkin and Martin Redish, moderated by Floyd Abrams
- March 9, 2015, Washington, D.C.: Hate Speech – "From Parisian Cartoons to Cyberspace to Campus Speech Codes" with Christopher Wolf and Greg Lukianoff, moderated by Lucy Dalglish
- November 5, 2014, New York City: "What’s Wrong with the First Amendment?" with Steven Shiffrin and Robert Corn-Revere moderated by Ashley Messenger
- July 9, 2014, Washington, D.C.: "McCutcheon Case, Campaign Financing Law & the First Amendment" with Paul Smith and Erin Murphy, moderated by David Skover
- April 28, 2014, New York City: "McCullen v. Coakley: Free Speech & Abortion Clinics" with Floyd Abrams and Steven Shapiro, moderated by Nadine Strossen