Dr. Mary Anne Franks + Ali Velshi: Fearless Speech

Join us for an in-person event with Professor at George Washington University School of Law Dr. Mary Anne Franks for a discussion of her new book Fearless Speech. Joining Dr. Franks in conversation is Ali Velshi, Chief Correspondent for MSNBC. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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A powerful debunking of First Amendment orthodoxy that critiques "reckless speech," which endangers vulnerable groups, and elevates "fearless speech," which seeks to advance equality and democracy.

Freedom of speech has never been more important—or more controversial. From debates about what's permissible on social media, to the politics of campus speakers

and corporate advertisements, the First Amendment is incessantly in the news and constantly being held up as the fundamental principle of American democracy. Yet, in reality, it has contributed more to eroding our democracy than supporting it.

In Fearless Speech, Dr. Mary Anne Franks emphasizes the distinction between what speech a democratic society should protect and what speech a democratic society should promote. While the First Amendment in theory is politically neutral, in practice it has been legally deployed most visibly and effectively to promote powerful antidemocratic interests: misogyny, racism, religious zealotry, and corporate self-interest, in other words, reckless speech. Instead, Franks argues, we need to focus on fearless speech—speakers who have risked their safety, their reputations, and in some cases their lives, to call out injustice and hold the powerful accountable. Whether it be civil rights leaders, the women of the #MeToo movement, or pro-choice advocates, Franks shows us how their cases and their voices can allow us to promote a more democratic version of free speech.

Told through an accessible narrative and ending with a call for change that urges us to reevaluate the legal precedents and uses of the First Amendment, Fearless Speech is a revelatory new argument that urges us to reimagine what our society could look like.

Dr. Mary Anne Franks is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at George Washington University School of Law and the President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. Her areas of expertise include First and Second Amendment law, law and technology, criminal law and procedure, and family law. 

Her first book, The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech (Stanford University Press 2019), won a 2020 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal and the 2020 Association of American Publishers PROSE Excellence Award in Social Sciences. She holds a DPhil from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a JD from Harvard Law School. Previously, she was the Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair at the University of Miami School of Law, a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and a Lecturer in social studies and philosophy at Harvard University. She is Taiwanese-American and originally from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Ali Velshi is an award winning journalist, host of "Velshi" and Chief Correspondent for MSNBC, and a weekly economics contributor to NPR's "Here And Now." He has covered multiple U.S. Midterm and Presidential elections and significant news stories around the globe, including extensive reporting from Israel during the war with Israel and Hamas, Ukraine and across Central and Eastern Europe during the Russian invasion, the Syrian refugee crisis from Turkey and Jordan, and the Iran Nuclear Deal in Tehran. He hosts the "Velshi Banned Book Club” on MSNBC, and the "Velshi Banned Book Club" podcast. Velshi is known for his immersive on-the-ground reporting and his interactive discussions with small groups, which form part of his ongoing series, Velshi Across America. He previously worked as an anchor and correspondent for Al Jazeera America and CNN. He has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, and is the recipient of two National Headliner Awards and a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award.

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