On April 30, 2024, the James Madison Program hosted Eugene Volokh,
Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford
University, for a lecture titled, "Speech That May Cause Illegal
Conduct." This event was the Annual Walter F. Murphy Lecture in American
Constitutionalism, and was a part of the Initiative on Freedom of
Thought, Inquiry, and Expression.
Speech can often foreseeably lead to illegal conduct. That is
especially so for speech broadcast to a vast audience; 99.99% of the
listeners may react to it peacefully, but .01% may react criminally,
whether with criminal threats, vandalism, or even violence. What should
the law do about this sort of speech, whether the speech is political
advocacy, personal criticism, or even just entertainment?
Eugene Volokh has taught and written about First Amendment law for 30
years, and has also focused on law and technology, Second Amendment law,
tort law, and criminal law. He is the author of a First Amendment
textbook, a book on academic legal writing, and over 100 law journal
articles. Before he went into law teaching, he clerked for Ninth
Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski and for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Before
that, he spent 12 years as a computer programmer.
This event was supported by the Bouton Law Lecture Fund.
Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any event does not constitute
departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program,
speakers or views presented.
