A Worthy Tradition: Freedom of Speech in America

My father’s book, A Worthy Tradition: Freedom of Speech in America, begins and ends with my words. The Introduction provides background and context on his approach to the First Amendment. The Afterword provides an account of the editorial process by which I prepared the manuscript for publication. When I was writing these essays, I thought of them as two hands extending my father’s last words to the reader.

"The Fourth Commandment and the First Amendment,” originally a speech to a University of Chicago Law School alumni group, can be read as a coda to this consuming, enriching, mysterious phase of my life and work.

• Editor's Introduction
• Editor's Afterword
• The Fourth Commandment and the First Amendment

Exchange with Judge Robert Bork

While working on A Worthy Tradition, I published an extended critique of Judge Robert Bork’s theory of the First Amendment in The Nation. Some months later, Judge Bork responded angrily in the American Bar Association Journal. I then wrote a second article in The Nation. Several years later when Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court, this exchange figured in the Senate confirmation hearings that ended with the withdrawal of the nomination. I wrote a third article on the eve of the hearings.

• Robert Bork and the Constitution
  Originally published in The Nation (October 1, 1983.).
• Round Two For Judge Bork
  Originally published in The Nation (June 16, 1984.).
• Bork v. The First
  Originally published in The Nation (September 19, 1987.).