Abrams Institute Receives Grant to Explore Press Clause

The Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School announced that it will receive a substantial grant from the Stanton Foundation to engage in a two-year project that will focus on the too-often overlooked Press Clause of the First Amendment. Abrams will direct the project.

“For too long,” Abrams observed, “the provision in the First Amendment that freedom of speech ‘and of the press’ would be protected from government abridgment has led to justifiably broad protection of the former but far too little notice of the latter. It is time to begin to address that constitutional deficiency. Frank Stanton was a memorable champion of press freedom and it is thus especially meaningful that the grant that allows this project to proceed comes from the Stanton Foundation.”

The project will be designed to develop constitutional strategy aimed at protecting freedom of the press by bringing together academics, lawyers and journalists in workshops around the nation to discuss press freedom issues and to stimulate expanded scholarship and public engagement about the topic.

The Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School promotes freedom of speech, freedom of the press, access to information and government transparency. The Institute’s activities are grounded on the belief that collaboration between the academy and the bar will enrich both scholarship and practice.