Burt Neuborne, the Inez Milholland Professor of Civil Liberties at New York University Law School, is the founding legal director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. He served as national legal director of the ACLU during the Reagan administration, and has represented Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold in litigation over campaign finance reform.
Feedback on the April 9 issue: trusting government (“again?”), Katha Pollitt’s plea to affluent pro-choicers and Burt Neuborne’s open letter to the ACLU
A former ACLU attorney points out that corporate spending on political campaigns is not “free speech” deserving First Amendment protection.
Was the Supreme Court’s infamous decision a desecration, or only what the Constitution requires? A First Amendment scholar and civil liberties advocate debate.
At stake is whether the twenty-first-century First Amendment will be a protector of the powerful or a resource for the weak and disfranchised.