Constitutional Law,
U.S. Supreme Court
May 30, 2008
Protection or Punishment?
Under a recent Supreme Court decision, individuals will be imprisoned for offering or requesting material protected by the First Amendment. That should not be possible in a nation that believes in freedom of speech, writes Erwin Chemerinsky. - Forum Column
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
By Erwin Chemerinsky
This article appears on Page 6
Can the government punish a person for offering to sell or buy speech that is protected by the First Amendment? The answer to this question should be clear and obvious: of course not. But in United States v. Williams, 128 S.Ct. ___ (May 19, 2008), the court held that "offers to provide or requests to obtain child pornography are categorically exclu...
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