The Freedom of Thought Podcast

Financial institutions have faced growing scrutiny for debanking customers, with no explanation. While debanking is sometimes legally necessary when banks suspect unlawful conduct, recent reports have prompted high-profile questions about the practice, including from the President himself.   The lack of transparency does not help. How do financial institutions determine which accounts or services...

Prof. Richard Epstein joins Prof. Todd Zywicki to discuss his academic journey, where he learned early on, particularly through the lens of Roman law, that legal issues cannot be understood by mere definitions, but by understanding deeper substantive theory. Prof. Epstein emphasizes valuable lessons he learned along the way, such as the importance of figuring out where one’s particular strengths l...

At this Freedom of Thought Project event, panelists will discuss the current political landscape in the U.S. and how rhetoric from political leaders impacts our judiciary, society, and our freedoms. Featuring: James Burnham, President, Vallecito Capital Jay Edelson, Founder & CEO, Edelson PC Prof. Nicole Stelle Garnett, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law S...

At this Freedom of Thought Project event, panelists will discuss the current political landscape in the U.S. and how rhetoric from political leaders impacts our judiciary, society, and our freedoms. Featuring: T. Elliot Gaiser, Solicitor General, Ohio Eric Wessan, Solicitor General, Iowa Moderator: Megan McArdle, Columnist, Washington Post

In Part 2, Professor Julia Mahoney joins Professor Joshua Kleinfeld to discuss freedom of thought in diverse professional worlds, from universities to law to corporations to medicine. Why have professional sectors become more ideological? Has concentration in the for-profit sector contributed to this development, and what are some possible solutions? What obligations do shareholders have to their...

In Part I, Professor Julia Mahoney joins Professor Joshua Kleinfeld to delve into the complexities of governmental regulation and market power. What makes markets possible? How do institutions enable people to cooperate in a productive way? In what ways can they prohibit people from doing so? Tune in for a conversation on private power, free markets, crony capitalism, and more. Featuring: Prof. Ju...

Featuring: Hon. Andrew Ferguson,  Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission Moderator: Hon. Paul B. Matey , U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

What responsibility do states have in protecting the rights of their citizens? How should we think about rights like the freedom of speech — do rights operate primarily as a limit on government power, or do they protect the natural rights of the citizen? Which framework is more consistent with original understanding? What limits applied to freedoms of speech — to what extent were they regulable by...

How did corporate rights evolve to include expressive constitutional rights akin to those of a natural person? How should we think about constitutional protections for corporate speech promoting commercial interests? Should the degree of alignment between ownership and control affect the constitutional interests of the corporation? Does SEC regulation on shareholder voting interfere with sharehold...

How did citizens understand corporate power at the Founding? What were the rights, privileges, and limits on corporations, and how did the rights of corporations compare to those of individual citizens? Should the fact that significant elements of the corporation–including their creation and ability to operate across state lines–were privileges granted by the state affect our thinking on corporate...

We know how to think about government coercion. We have ready and familiar frameworks for evaluating how government power should be exercised against the private individual. But courts and policymakers increasingly are called to mediate between private actors with competing claims to liberty, and the analysis is perhaps more complex and uncertain. How should we evaluate such competing claims and w...

In this episode of Open Minds, Andrew Ferguson discusses his career, from judicial clerkships to the Hill to state government, and how the mentors and friends he made along the way helped shape his career and intellectual development. Andrew Ferguson and James Burnham then turn to the questions of the moment. What role can state solicitors general play in curtailing government overreach? What is a...

In Part 2 of Open Minds with Ryan Newman, we discuss government and private coercion and how state plenary authority plays into questions of freedom. How does concentrated economic and government power affect the democratic power of private citizens? How does a corporation's size and scale change its ability to exercise political influence? And how can conservative and libertarian discussions shif...

Part 1 of Open Minds with Ryan Newman covers how his upbringing in the American southwest and his less conventional career, including military service, as well as judicial clerkships, and service in both state and federal government, shaped his life and thought. What does it mean to fight for what you believe in? What grounds our rights, and are there limits to those rights? How do political leade...

What can state actors do to protect or interfere with online public discourse? The recent argument in National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo suggests that there is some outer limit of government coercion on private actors to interfere with disfavored ideas. But questions from the bench in Murthy v. Missouri, argued the same morning, have some wondering if those limits might allow for signi...

Co-founder of Mozilla and creator of JavaScript, Brendan Eich had made remarkable contributions to the technology sector. He also had contributed $1,000 to the (successful) Proposition 8 campaign against same-sex marriage. On April 3, 2014, Mozilla forced him out of the company he had founded, with apologies for not having acted sooner. Watching it all unfold, Prof. Todd Zywicki was concerned, war...

In the second part of this interview, James Burnham and Jonathan Mitchell discuss areas where conventional wisdom can be challenged and how he has sought to shift the Overton window in legal discourse. Should legal doctrine eclipse constitutional and statutory text? Join us for a sweeping discussion on equality doctrine, judicial review limitations, private civil enforcement, and more. Featuring:...

In the first part of this interview, James Burnham and Jonathan Mitchell discuss his unusual career progression in alternating legal practice and academia, how his experience with consequentialism informs his formalism and textualism, and what's next for the conservative legal movement. Featuring: Jonathan Mitchell, Principal, Mitchell Law PLLC James Burnham, President, Vallecito Capital, LLC

A panel of experts from a variety of political perspectives will discuss the range of briefing and arguments in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC and NetChoice, LLC v. Paxton. Featuring: Ryan L. Bangert, Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives & Special Counsel to the President, Alliance Defending Freedom Prof. Julia D. Mahoney, John S. Battle Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of...

In June of last year, the Supreme Court held that consideration of applicants’ race in admissions decisions of Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated both the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But what are the implications outside of university admissions? How might this decision affect the interpretation and enforcement...

This panel will consider the symmetry and consistency of free speech norms in higher education. Academic norms for free speech are essential to promote the free exchange of ideas. Students and professors must be free to engage with mutual respect while drawing a line at harassment. But has academia failed to recognize consistent speech harassment distinctions? Have there even been decisions that t...

For decades, the plaintiffs' bar has been populated by liberal lawyers who support left-wing elected officials and liberal causes, while conservative lawyers have largely joined the ranks of defense-side firms. In recent years, large public companies have become increasingly associated with political liberalism, and promoted contentious social issues that many conservatives reject – with biglaw de...

In June, the Supreme Court held that consideration of applicants’ race in admissions decisions of Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated both the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Join us as two EEOC Commissioners, Democrat Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels and Republican Commissioner Andrea Lucas, discuss their respective views on how t...

Recent high-profile incidents at law schools have raised questions about the scope of academic freedom for faculty and freedom of speech for students and faculty. At the suggestion of its Strategic Review Committee, the Council of the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which is the primary accreditor of American law schools, has put out for comment a proposed new accredita...

The Department of Justice has just released new Draft Merger Guidelines. What are the implications - not just for how the Draft Guidelines might affect economic questions, but also for freedom of thought and the rule of law? In this afternoon session, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki will discuss these issues, the development of...