What Does the First Amendment Mean Today? Lecture by Akhil Amar

What Does the First Amendment Mean Today?

The core idea of our nation’s founding documents -- self-determination, equality, and human rights -- remain at the center of our public argument.  In a series of four programs, we will examine our nation’s “first principles” with an overview of the First Amendment from its infancy to the present time. This series will focus on two of the five freedoms addressed in the First Amendment - free speech and assembly—both of which have been instrumental in securing the opportunity for protected, political discourse and protection for individuals advocating and demonstrating for myriad points of view. 

Building on the themes of his most recent book, "The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840," legal scholar and author Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, will provide an overview of the five freedoms the First Amendment guarantees and protects, its history, and how various legislative efforts have been made to amend or limit some of those freedoms. This lecture will take place in person at the Ridgefield Library. Copies of Professor Amar's books will be available for purchase and signing.

Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School.  Amar’s work has won awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, and he has been cited by Supreme Court justices across the spectrum in more than 40 cases — tops in his generation. He regularly testifies before Congress at the invitation of both parties; and in surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he invariably ranks among America’s five most-cited mid-career legal scholars.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has written widely for popular publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and The Atlantic. He was an informal consultant to the popular TV show The West Wing and his scholarship has been showcased on many broadcasts.  

What Does the First Amendment Mean Today? is co-sponsored by Ridgefield Library, Ridgefield Historical Society, the League of Women Voters of Ridgefield, Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center, and the Drum Hill Chapter of the DAR.  

This series is funded in part by a grant from Connecticut Humanities (CTH), an independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. CTH connects people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and collaborative programs. CTH projects, administration, and program development are supported by state and federal matching funds, community foundations, and gifts from private sources. Learn more by visiting cthumanities.org.

ALL patrons must wear masks that cover nose and mouth at all times while in the Library, regardless of vaccination status, per the Town of Ridgefield. Masks must conform to current CDC recommendations.