Hopkins examines the body of Justice Brennan's free expression jurisprudence. For him, Brennan was the prime protector of the rights of free speech and free press. He argues that Brennan's theory of free expression is built on the metaphor of a marketplace of ideas. He concludes that Brennan developed a philosophically sound First Amendment theory that was accepted by the Court, but is not being applied with the force necessary for it to be effective in practice.

Exploring his thirty-four year position on the United States Supreme Court, a detailed account of his significant contribution to the modern law on freedom of speech and the press notes his positions on civil rights, education, and capital punishment.

The Conscience of the Court celebrates the work of Justice William J. Brennan Jr., who served on the United States Supreme Court for thirty-four years (1956-1990). Stephen L. Sepinuck and Mary Pat Treuthart introduce and present selected judicial opinions written by Justice Brennan on issues involving personal freedom, civil liberties, and equality. Brennan is ranked by many as the best writer ever to have served on the Supreme Court, and his written opinions depict real people, often in desperate, emotional situations. Remarkable for their clarity of analysis, for their eloquence, and for their forcefulness and persuasiveness, his opinions demonstrate that judicial thought need not be a proprietary enclave of lawyers or the intellectual elite. The extended excerpts selected by Sepinuck and Treuthart highlight Brennan's approach to judicial decision making. Concerned always with how each decision would actually affect people's lives, Brennan possessed a rare quality of empathy. In Brennan, the editors note, "people and groups who lacked influence in society -- Communists and flag burners, children and foreigners, criminal defendants and racial minorities" -- found a champion they could count on "to listen to their causes and judge them unmoved by the passions of the politically powerful". This book is divided into four chapters dealing with freedom of expression, religious liberties and guarantees, the individual versus the state, and protections of equality. Within each chapter, the excerpted cases are presented chronologically. The editors selected more dissenting and concurring opinions than majority opinions because, they reason, a justice writing a dissent or concurrence isfreer to express personal views than one writing for the majority who may feel compelled to include or exclude certain statements in order to hold a fragile coalition together. Each opinion has been edited to focus on the constitutional question at issue while still preserving Brennan's style of expression and process of reasoning. In their introduction to each opinion, the editors provide background facts, discuss how the excerpted opinion transformed the law or otherwise fit into the realm of constitutional jurisprudence, and delve into Justice Brennan's judicial philosophy, his method of constitutional interpretation, and the language he used.

Judging Free Speech contains nine original essays by political scientists and law professors, each providing a comprehensive, yet concise and accessible overview of the free speech jurisprudence of a United States Supreme Court Justice.

“Will likely be the definitive biography. . . . a detailed and fascinating account of how the Supreme Court functioned during Brennan’s long tenure.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) This is a compelling inside look at the life of William Brennan, a champion of free speech who is widely considered the most influential Supreme Court justice of the twentieth century. Before his death, Brennan granted Stephen Wermiel access to volumes of personal and court materials that at the time were sealed to the public for another two decades. This “coveted set of documents,” as Jeffrey Toobin described it, includes Brennan’s case histories—in which he recorded strategies behind major battles including Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, the death penalty, obscenity law, and the constitutional right to privacy—as well as more personal documents that reveal some of Brennan’s curious contradictions, like his refusal to hire female clerks even as he wrote groundbreaking women’s rights decisions; his complex stance as a justice and a Catholic; and details on Brennan’s unprecedented working relationship with Chief Justice Earl Warren. In this biography, Wermiel and Seth Stern distill decades of valuable information into a seamless, riveting portrait of the man behind the Court’s most liberal era. “The most comprehensive and well-organized look at the legendary liberal jurist to date.” —The New York Times “Seats the reader in Brennan’s chambers to listen to his conversations and see the memoranda exchanged with other justices and his law clerks.” —Newark Star Ledger “The authors balance differing accounts of Brennan the jurist and the man, presenting an evenhanded portrait of the affable but stubborn Justice.” —Kirkus Reviews

In Freedom of Expression in the Supreme Court, Terry Eastland brings together the Court's leading First Amendment cases, some 60 in all, starting with Schenck v. United States (1919) and ending with Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1998). Complete with a comprehensive introduction, pertinent indices and a useful bibliography, Freedom of Expression in the Supreme Court offers the general and specialized reader alike a thorough treatment of the Court's understanding on the First Amendment's speech, press, assembly, and petition clauses.

This work covers the development of freedom of speech from Athens, through Rome, to England and the United States. It contains an up-to-date treatment of defamation and privacy, obscenity, commercial speech, prior retraint, free press/fair trial, copyright and broadcasting, and media access.