First Amendment: Free Speech

Law to Fact

In this episode…

Professor Allen Rostron, the Associate Dean of Students, William R. Jacques Constitutional Law Scholar and Professor of Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law, explains the First Amendment as it relates to freedom of speech and provides an outstanding analytical framework for those challenged with answering a free speech question on an exam or the bar.

Some key takeaways are...

1. Speech is both verbal and non-verbal communication and includes images, instrumental musical communication or even tattoos.
2. The Government can regulate speech in certain instances.
3. The government may always regulate obscenity.
4. In order to understand whether the government can regulate non-verbal speech one must look at intent and understanding.
5. The government can regulate Commercial speech, student speech and spending limits in limited instances.

About our guest…

Professor Allen Rostron teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, tort law, products liability, and conflict of laws.

Before becoming a teacher, Rostron worked in Washington, D.C. as a Senior Staff Attorney at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, where he was part of a nationwide litigation effort that included lawsuits brought against gun manufacturers by several dozen major cities and counties. Rostron began his career working as a law clerk for Judge Thomas S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and then as a litigation associate at the Cravath Swaine & Moore law firm in New York City.

Professor Rostron’s research and writing has had a significant impact on several areas of law. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin relied on one of his articles in a decision in which it became the first court in the nation to impose proportional or “market share” liability on manufacturers of lead paint. In another article, Professor Rostron suggested a new approach to regulation of high-powered sniper rifles, and that approach was subsequently enacted into law in the District of Columbia and incorporated into proposed federal legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate.

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