First Amendment Law Review Symposium: “Sex and the First Amendment”

Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/16/2018
9:00 am - 3:30 pm

On November 16, the Center for Media Law and Policy will be joining with the First Amendment Law Review to present a symposium titled “Sex and the First Amendment.” At a time when debates about sex, religion, and the law are more heated than ever, the First Amendment Law Review is hosting some of the nation’s top constitutional law scholars to discuss a wide-range of free speech, free exercise, and establishment clause issues.  The keynote speaker is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago. Stone’s book Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and the Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century (2017) is the inspiration for this symposium.

In addition to discussing the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and NIFLA v. Becerra, the symposium will address a broad array of topics relating to sex, sexuality, and religion, including but not limited to the constitutionality of conversion therapy legislation and other restrictions on professional speech; changes in communications technology that have undermined efforts to control explicit sexual images, including revenge porn and sex trafficking; the ongoing debate about whether Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act should be amended or repealed; the regulation of sexually oriented businesses; the constitutionality of the Federal Communication Commission’s ongoing regulation of “indecency” in broadcast radio and television; and the fascinating history of all of these laws.

There will be three panels: Sex and the Freedom of Expression, Sex and Religion, and Sex and the Internet. Panelists include:

• Clay Calvert, Professor and Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication, University of Florida
• Jud Campbell, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Richmond School of Law
• Mary Anne Case, Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
• Jane Dailey, Associate Professor of History, University of Chicago
• Mary Anne Franks, Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
• Eric Goldman, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the High Tech Law Institute, Santa Clara University School of Law
• Claudia Haupt, Associate Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
• Jeff Kosseff, Assistant Professor at the United States Naval Academy – Cyber Security Department
• Mary-Rose Papandrea, Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law & Assistance Dean for Academic Affairs, University of North Carolina School of Law
• Steve Sanders, Associate Professor of Law, Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law
• Kyla Garrett Wagner, Ph.D. student, UNC School of Media and Journalism

The symposium will be offered both in-person and via live webcast. North Carolina CLE (3.75 credits) is available for both in-person and live webcast attendees.

To register, please go here.  For more information, please visit the First Amendment Law Review’s event page.