The University of Toledo
10/19/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/20/2026 07:13
Free Speech Scholars to Debate First Amendment on Friday
Free Speech Scholars to Debate First Amendment on Friday
The University of Toledo's Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership will host a debate on the scope of the First Amendment on Friday, Oct. 23.
Two free speech scholars, Dr. Mary Anne Franks of George Washington University and the Institute's Nathan Goetting, will share their perspectives in "Does the First Amendment Actually Protect Free Speech?" at noon in the Law Center's McQuade Law Auditorium. Lunch will be provided at the free, public event.
Dr. Mary Anne Franks, left, is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology and Civil Rights Law at George Washington University Law School. Nathan Goetting, right, is prestige faculty in the UToledo College of Law and a faculty fellow at UToledo's Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership.
"One of our goals at the Institute is to foster thoughtful conversation between scholars who disagree about political and constitutional questions," said Dr. Deborah O'Malley, an assistant professor in the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership. "Dr. Franks and Professor Goetting are outstanding First Amendment scholars who have some fundamental disagreements about what free speech entails. So we are excited to host a debate in which they tease out their positions, challenging us to think more deeply about this cherished right."
Franks is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology and Civil Rights Law at George Washington University Law School. She is also the president and legislative and tech policy director of the nonprofit Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and an affiliate fellow of the Yale Law School Information Society Project.
Franks has published two books on free speech: "Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment" (2024) and "The Cult of the Constitution" (2019).
Goetting is a professor of criminal justice and jurisprudence at Adrian College, prestige faculty in the UToledo College of Law and a faculty fellow at the University's Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership. His most recent book is "Free Speech Absolutism: Why the Constitution of the United States Makes Free Speech Its Most Important Right" (2026).
Free visitor parking for "Does the First Amendment Actually Protect Free Speech?" is in Area 12W. All other visitor parking requires payment through the ParkMobile app, a parking meter or a daily permit via ParkUToledo.
Visit the ParkUToledo website for more information.
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