My newest article, “The Defamation Gambit: Why the First Amendment and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (Rightfully) Protect Magnus Carlsen et al.’s Statements about Hans Niemann’s Chess Playing,” was published in the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment & Sports Law. lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/13339...

During the recent 2025-26 academic year, the Menard Center for Constitutional Studies at UW-Eau Claire hosted several constitutional experts, including Jeffrey Rosen, Nadine Strossen, and @nicoperrino.bsky.social. I am grateful that students on our campus had a chance to learn from them all.

The link below is to my new guest essay, titled “The Declaration of Independence at 250,” which was published in the Rice Lake Chronotype. www.apg-wi.com/rice_lake_ch...

I was honored to moderate Jeffrey Rosen's discussion of "Declaration of Independence: 250 Years of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" last night at UW-Eau Claire!

Last weekend I had fun representing the UWEC Chess Club and Wisconsin Chessheads at GEEKcon at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire - Barron County!

FREE SPEECH AND INCITEMENT IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY asks: where does protected speech end and incitement begin? From WWI to Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), it explores how “imminent lawless action” is defined, and why it still matters. #MPSA2026 #ReadUP tinyurl.com/mr3w4re9 #FreeSpeech #SCOTUS

My newest article, titled “ICYMI (In Case You Missed It): Moody v. NetChoice, LLC and First Amendment Protections for Social Media Platform Expression,” was recently published in the Tulsa Law Review. digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tlr/vol61/is...

Thank you to National Chess Master Okey Iwu for playing a simultaneous exhibition against 20 competitors at the Rice Lake Public Library last weekend. For those interested in playing chess in the area, our club regularly meets on Mondays at 6pm at the library. www.apg-wi.com/rice_lake_ch...

The link below is to my new guest essay, titled “Free Speech in a New Semester,” which was published in the Rice Lake Chronotype. www.apg-wi.com/townnews/pol...

I was honored to speak about the history of the Bill of Rights at an event put on by the League of Women Voters-Greater Chippewa Valley on Monday. December 15 was the 234th anniversary of the ratification of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

In case you haven't noticed, Free Speech and Incitement in the Twenty-First Century, which @joannesweeny.bsky.social and I edited, is now available in paperback from @sunypress.bsky.social! sunypress.edu/Books/F/Free...

The link below is to my new guest essay, titled “Congress’ Power to Tax and Spend,” which was published in the Rice Lake Chronotype. www.apg-wi.com/rice_lake_ch...

I was recently interviewed for this local news story about First Amendment requirements for government-run social media pages.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

“Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?” Milton, Areopagitica (1644)

The link below is to my new guest essay, titled “The Supreme Court & the Constitution in 2025,” which was published in the Rice Lake Chronotype.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL CHESS DAY 🥳🎉

The link below is to my new guest essay, titled “Rights of the Accused and the U.S. Constitution,” which was published in the Rice Lake Chronotype. www.apg-wi.com/rice_lake_ch...

@joannesweeny.bsky.social & I have co-edited "Free Speech & Incitement in the 21st Century," with @sunypress.bsky.social. Contributors include D.Downs, @adamkunz.bsky.social, T.Shiell, S.Feldman, R.VanLandingham, S.Carthens, C.Wells, H.Schweber, R.Anderson, & D.Canon. Release date is May 1, 2025.

"The Supreme Court and the Philosopher: How John Stuart Mill Shaped U.S. Free Speech Protections" was released one year ago today. If you haven't picked up a copy of this book co-authored by Troy Kozma and me, below is a review that may pique your interest. firstamendment.mtsu.edu/post/new-boo...

Nice to see Eric T. Kasper at our booth at the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago! Eric is holding a copy of his new book of Free Speech and Incitement in the Twenty-First Century, which he coedited with JoAnne Sweeny. #MPSA2025 #ReadUP

Last week the UW-Eau Claire Menard Center for Constitutional Studies hosted First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, someone who has represented clients in free expression cases before the U.S. Supreme Court since New York Times Co. v. United States (1971). (photo credit Maddie Kasper)

My new book chapter titled, “Lindke v. Freed & O’Connor-Radcliff v. Garnier: State Action & the First Amendment,” was published in SCOTUS 2024: Major Decisions and Developments of the U.S. Supreme Court. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

"No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." U.S. Constitution, Amendment V.

"Academic freedom, though not a specifically enumerated constitutional right, long has been viewed as a special concern of the First Amendment." Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 312 (1978).

"Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned." Keyishian v. Bd. of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 603 (1967).

"[T]he First Amendment...prohibits any law ‘abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.’ It must be taken as a command of the broadest scope that explicit language, read in the context of a liberty-loving society, will allow." Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252, 263 (1941).

The Menard Center for Constitutional Studies is screening "Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely" on Wed, Mar 26 at 5:30pm in Hibbard 103 at UW-Eau Claire. The film's subject, 1st Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, & the film's director, Academy Award winner Yael Melamede, will hold a post-film Q&A session!

The link below is to my new guest essay, titled “The Constitution’s Appointments Clause,” which was published in the Rice Lake Chronotype. www.apg-wi.com/rice_lake_ch...

I learned a lot from International Master John Bartholomew during his chess simultaneous exhibition and Q&A session yesterday at the L.E. Phillips Public Library. Thank you to him and to the Eau Claire Chess Club for organizing the event!

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. So don’t be inactive." -- Alexei Navalny (June 4, 1976 – February 16, 2024).

"It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 177 (1803).

"Since this Court has consistently exercised the power to construe and delineate claims arising under express powers, it must follow that the Court has authority to interpret claims with respect to powers alleged to derive from enumerated powers." United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 704 (1974).

"Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States. His allegiance to the United States is direct and immediate." United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 693 (1898).

"[A]n inferior officer under the Appointments Clause[ has] limited jurisdiction and tenure and lack[s] policymaking or significant administrative authority." Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654, 691 (1988).

"Principal officers are selected by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Inferior officers Congress may allow to be appointed by the President alone." Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 132 (1976).

"In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors." New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713, 717 (1971) (Black, J., concurring).

"[W]e consider this case against the background of a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open." New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964).

"If...the publisher has a constitutional right to publish, without previous restraint, an edition of his newspaper charging official derelictions, it cannot be denied that he may publish subsequent editions for the same purpose." Near v. State of Minnesota ex rel. Olson, 283 U.S. 697, 720 (1931).

The @freespeechcenter.bsky.social has a review of "James Madison's Constitution: A Double Security and Parchment Barrier." firstamendment.mtsu.edu/post/essays-...

Calling all academics who study the U.S. Constitution! We still have room for a small number of proposals for this edited volume titled, "Is the Constitution Everything It Appears to Be?" If interested, please email me.

Howard Schweber & I have edited a new book, James Madison's Constitution: A Double Security and a Parchment Barrier, published by the University of Georgia Press. Authors include J. Broadwater, P. Finkelman, Z. German, A. Gibson, J. Rakove, D. Siemers, Q. Taylor, G. Thomas, L. Uzzell, & M. Zuckert.

Troy Kozma & I discuss free speech, freedom of religion, & the right to privacy in "First Free Speech, Then 'Experiments in Living': John Stuart Mill's Influence over the U.S. Supreme Court on Constitutional Rights after the Freedom of Expression," published by the KS Journal of Law & Public Policy.

Being new to this platform, I want to highlight a major event I was a part of with the Menard Center for Constitutional Studies. Last year, I moderated a discussion with human rights advocate & former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. We discussed free speech, democracy, global politics, & chess.

Want to learn how the U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly adopted a view of the freedom of expression that reflects John Stuart Mill's reasoning in "On Liberty"? Troy Kozma and I explore this in "The Supreme Court and the Philosopher," published by Northern Illinois University Press.

I explore free speech protections for music in my article, "Explicit Lyrics: The First Amendment Free Speech Rulings that Have Protected Against Music Censorship in the United States," published by the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review. digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr/vol43/is...

If you are interested in free speech and/or chess, below is a link to my article, "Checkmate: Why the First Amendment Protects Prison Inmates' Right to Play Correspondence Chess Using Algebraic Notation," published by the Marquette Sports Law Review. scholarship.law.marquette.edu/sportslaw/vo...