Friday, November 15, 2024
8:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (with reception to follow)

Free and open to the public.

Does free expression help or harm the cause of social progress? Does freedom of speech entrench an unjust status quo, or is it a crucial tool for groups wishing to challenge it?

These questions divide us everywhere — on social media, on campus, and in judicial decisions. Until now, however, the debate in academic literature has been overwhelmingly one-sided. Voices for Liberty, an initiative of the Liberty & Law Center at Scalia Law, aims to broaden that debate, bringing in new perspectives.

Join us for a full day of senior scholars and exciting new voices presenting cutting-edge research on the role expression played in women’s economic freedom and self-segregated communities, and continues to play in religious minority and nonreligious rights and international racial tolerance.

For more information about this event, as well as to register, please visit our event listing.

Questions? Please contact vfli@gmu.edu.

Conference Program

Friday, November 15, 2024

All times are in Eastern Standard Time Zone (EST) / Minor details subject to change

8:00 – 8:50 a.m.: Breakfast and Networking

8:55 a.m.: Welcome Remarks: JoAnn Koob, Assistant Professor and Director, Liberty & Law Center, Scalia Law School, George Mason University

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Paper #1: The Jewish Dilemma in Supporting Free Speech and Countering Antisemitism on American College Campuses, by David L. Bernstein, Founder and CEO, Jewish Institute for Liberal Values

Topic: Speech and Antisemitism

• Author: David L. Bernstein, Founder and CEO, Jewish Institute for Liberal Values
• Discussant #1: Kenneth Marcus, Founder and Chairman of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University
• Discussant #2: Samuel Goldman, Associate Professor of Political Science, George Washington University
• Moderator: Debi Ghate, Initiative Director, Voices for Liberty, Liberty & Law Center, George Mason University

10:00 – 10:15 a.m.: Break

10:15 – 11:15 a.m.
Paper #2: Myra Bradwell and the Chicago Legal News: Speech as a Prerequisite to all Civil Rights, by Anastasia Boden, Senior Attorney for Equality and Opportunity, Pacific Legal Foundation

Topic: Civil Rights Advocacy

• Author: Anatasia Boden, Senior Attorney for Equality and Opportunity, Pacific Legal Foundation
• Discussant #1: Ellen Dubois, Distinguished Research Professor, Meyer and Renee Luskin Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles
• Discussant #2: Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita, New York Law School
• Moderator: Christopher Newman, Associate Professor of Law, Liberty & Law Center, Scalia Law School, George Mason University

11:15 – 11:30 a.m.: Break

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Paper #3: Does Freedom of Speech Promote Racial Tolerance Across Countries?, by Claudia Williamson Kramer, Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise, Professor of Economics, Director, Center for Economic Education, UTC Gary W. Rollins College of Business

Topic: Speech Impact on Global Tolerance

• Author: Claudia Williamson Kramer, Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise, Professor of Economics, Director, Center for Economic Education, UTC Gary W. Rollins College of Business
• Discussant #1: Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA Law, University of California, Los Angeles
• Discussant #2: Garrett Jones, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
• Moderator: David E. Bernstein, Distinguished University Professor and Executive Director, Liberty & Law Center, Scalia Law School, George Mason University

12:30 – 1:00 p.m.: Networking Lunch + Film Trailer

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Paper #4: Free Speech, Fighting Faiths, and Nones: How the First Amendment Came to Protect Freedom of Conscience for All, by Katie McKerall, Practicing Public Interest Attorney, American Humanist Association

Topic: Free Speech Protections for Religiously Unaffiliated

• Author: Katie McKerall, Practicing Public Interest Attorney, American Humanist Association
• Discussant #1: Emerson Sykes, Staff Attorney, Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, ACLU
• Discussant #2: Onkar Ghate, Chief Philosophy Officer and Senior Fellow,
  Ayn Rand Institute
• Moderator: Tim Hoefer, Consultant, Voices for Liberty

2:00 – 2:15 p.m.: Break

2:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Paper #5: The Black-Controlled Town of Mound Bayou as a Bridgehead for Free Speech in Jim Crow Mississippi, by David Beito, Professor Emeritus, University of Alabama

Topic: Self-Governance and Racial Justice

• Author: David Beito, Professor Emeritus, University of Alabama
• Discussant #1: Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Emeritus, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
• Discussant #2: Steven Reich, Professor of History, James Madison University
• Moderator: JoAnn Koob, Assistant Professor and Director, Liberty & Law Center, Scalia Law School, George Mason University

3:15 – 3:30 p.m.: Break

3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Paper #6: Religious Minorities and Secular Rights, by Joshua C. McDaniel, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University

Topic: Expanding Protections to Religious Minorities

• Author: Joshua C. McDaniel, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
• Discussant #1: Stephanie Barclay, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law, Georgetown University
• Discussant #2: Christopher Newman, Associate Professor of Law, Liberty & Law Center, Scalia Law School, George Mason University
• Moderator: JoAnn Koob, Assistant Professor and Director, Liberty & Law Center, Scalia Law School, George Mason University

4:30 – 4:45 p.m.: Break

4:45 – 5:30 p.m.: Closing Plenary

• Speaker: Erec Smith, Research Fellow at the Cato Institute, Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania
• Speaker: John Wood Jr., National Ambassador for Braver Angels
• Moderator: Debi Ghate, Initiative Director, Voices for Liberty, Liberty & Law Center, George Mason University

5:30 – 6:30 p.m.: Reception

Generously Funded by the Stanton Foundation

Address, Directions & Parking

The symposium will be held at 3351 Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA 22201. Signs will be posted directing registrants to the check-in desk.

Visitor Parking

• Van Metre Hall (formerly Founders) Garage is located directly beneath Scalia Law School. To access the garage, use the entrance located off of Kirkwood Drive, in between Fairfax Drive and Washington Boulevard. Currently, the rates are $3/hour with a daily maximum of $15 Monday – Friday.
• There is metered parking in front of the law school on Fairfax Drive and long-term metered parking across the street in front of St. Charles Church.

*Note: We are unable to validate parking.