“Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment,” A Book Talk with Mary Anne Franks

For far too long, the First Amendment has been treated as the measure and the model of expressive freedom, as if the vast potential and the power of speech could be contained within a narrow legal doctrine. But it was not the First Amendment that abolished slavery, or exposed the horrors of lynching, or fought for women’s equal rights. Fearless speakers accomplished those things, most often without the shield of the First Amendment, even as their persecutors wielded the First Amendment as a sword. This book offers a critique of how First Amendment doctrine has stifled and domesticated the possibilities of free speech. Even more importantly, it is an introduction to and a celebration of speakers whose expression has sparked revolutions, protected the vulnerable, and held the powerful accountable—without, despite, or beyond the First Amendment.

Dr. Mary Anne Franks is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at George Washington Law School. Her areas of expertise include First Amendment law, Second Amendment law, law and technology, criminal law, and family law. Dr. Franks also serves as the President and Legislative & Tech Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, the leading U.S.-based nonprofit organization focused on image-based sexual abuse. Her model legislation on the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images (NDII, sometimes referred to as “revenge porn”) has served as the template for multiple state and federal laws, and she is a frequent advisor to the federal government, state and federal lawmakers, and tech companies on privacy, free expression, and safety issues. Dr. Franks is the author of the award-winning book, The Cult of the Constitution (Stanford Press, 2019); her second book, Fearless Speech (Bold Type Books) was published in October 2024. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a doctorate from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She is a an Affiliate Fellow of the Yale Law School Information Society Project, a Fellow with the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, and is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court and the District of Columbia.