As part of his commitment to Free Speech, during the Spring Semester of 2022 Bobby taught a seminar at The George Washington Law School entitled “Fundamentals of Free Speech as Applied to Contemporary Issues.” Bobby created a unique syllabus for the course, collecting and assigning readings from great thinkers and important judicial decisions addressing free speech issues.

Students reviewed arguments for both free and unrestricted speech, and for imposing certain restrictions on speech. The first two of the seven sessions featured readings from history’s leading advocates for free speech, including John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (chapter 2 on Free Speech), James Madison’s “Report on the Virginia Resolutions” in opposition to the Alien and Seditions Acts, and excerpts from Alexis De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (chapter XI entitled “Liberty of the Press in the United States”). In the third and fourth sessions, students read arguments for restricting speech, including Herbert Marcuse’s essay “Repressive Tolerance,” excerpts from Jeremy Waldron’s book The Harm in Hate Speech, and Georgetown Law Professor Louis Michael Seidman’s article, “Can Free Speech Be Progressive.” Session 5 reviewed case law addressing hate speech, Session 6 reviewed cases and other materials relating to academic freedom and speech on campus, and Session 7 reviewed cases on disruptive speech.

Throughout the course, students engaged in vigorous, but always civil and respectful, discussion. The students report coming away from the course with a better appreciation for the power of free speech, its central and unique role in the American character, and the difficulty of constructing workable restrictions on categories of speech. Bobby has agreed to teach the course again in the Spring Semester of 2023.