The Center on Law and Security (CLS) held its fall conference on November 5. Titled “The Constitution and National Security: The First Amendment Under Attack,” the event featured participants who view the topic from many different vantage points, ranging from Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union to Niall Brennan, an agent with the intelligence division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to Walter Pincus, who covers national security for the Washington Post.
CLS Executive Director Karen Greenberg kicked off the event with introductory remarks, and moderated a discussion of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, a major Supreme Court ruling this year addressing restrictions on speech and other advocacy in support of designated terrorist organizations. Stephen Holmes, Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law and CLS faculty advisor, led a panel that examined the implications of recent WikiLeaks disclosures; and Barton Gellman, a longtime investigative reporter for the Washington Post and now a CLS senior fellow, moderated a discussion on the meaning of incitement in the context of the First Amendment. Participants in that discussion included Burt Neuborne, Inez Milholland Professor of Civil Liberties, and Geoffrey Stone, who is visiting NYU Law from the University of Chicago Law School. Noah Feldman, a CLS faculty advisor and professor at Harvard Law School delivered the afternoon keynote address, which focused on the religious liberty aspects of the First Amendment. He later moderated a discussion on Islam in America, in which CLS faculty advisor and assistant professor Samuel Rascoff participated.
Watch the panel discussion on free speech and incitement (1 hr 8 min):
Watch Noah Feldman's keynote address (34 min):
Post November 9, 2010