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Articles by Floyd Abrams
"The Enduring Legacy Of Buckley V. Valeo," By Floyd Abrams
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The Enduring Legacy of Buckley v. Valeo
Despite sustained criticism from all sides, Buckley's core principle persists: government cannot ration political speech. January 21, 2026 • By Floyd Abrams • Blog • Contribution Limits, Disclosure, Supreme Court This analysis is part of an Institute for Free Speech symposium, which will be cross-posted in partnership with the Volokh Conspiracy. As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Buckley v.
Opinion | Beef Up the Freedom of the Press
WSJ Opinion: Hits and Misses of the Week Your browser does not support HTML5 video. 0:00 Paused 0:00 / 1:47 WSJ Opinion: Hits and Misses of the WeekPlay video: WSJ Opinion: Hits and Misses of the Week The press is the only commercial enterprise that is explicitly protected by the First Amendment. Both freedom of speech and the press are constitutionally guaranteed. But the press has received little constitutional protection in addition to that provided to other speech.
Who decides what’s allowed on social media? - Editor and Publisher
Opinion | Letters Posted Thursday, June 15, 2023 5:32 pm Floyd Abrams | The Wall Street Journal Jed Rubenfeld’s “The Censorship Machine Is Running in 2024” (op-ed, June 6), advocating legislation barring social-media platforms from determining not to carry certain speech during a political campaign, runs directly into a First Amendment barrier. That is the consequence of having the government decide what views social media must carry.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Supreme Court faces a huge test on libel law
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to meet to consider whether to hear appeals from two libel cases in which the plaintiffs seek to persuade the justices to reconsider the single greatest First Amendment victory for the press in American history. Two of the court's justices, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, already have expressed a readiness to do just that, a disturbing turn that could weaken speech protections and threaten the country's free and robust press.
Opinion | The Supreme Court Faces a Huge Test on Libel Law
Guest Essay Oct. 22, 2021 By Floyd Abrams Mr. Abrams is a First Amendment lawyer whose many clients have included The New York Times, which he successfully represented in the Pentagon Papers case. His firm represents The Times on occasion.
Memoirs of an Exceptional Public Servant
Sometimes politicians do make a positive difference. The Luckiest Guy in the World: My Journey in Politics By Robert Abrams Skyhorse 2021, 344 pages, $28 Want to continue reading? Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Children's Book Review: A Day for Rememberin’: Inspired by the True Events of the First Memorial Day by Leah Henderson, illus. by Floyd Cooper. Abrams, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4197-3630-8
Leah Henderson, illus. by Floyd Cooper. Abrams, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4197-3630-8 Transfixed by a photograph of an early assembly for Decoration Day—now observed as Memorial Day—Henderson ( Together We March) was led to records of a similar ceremony held in Charleston, S.C., in April 1865. She imagines the event through the story of Eli, the 10-year-old son of a formerly enslaved man, newly freed.
Opinion | The Promise and Peril of Facial Recognition
Federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies are using facial-recognition technology to identify the members of the mob that assaulted the U.S. Capitol last week. Elsewhere, facial recognition and artificial intelligence are increasingly being used for nefarious purposes—including by China to persecute minorities and to identify Hong Kong dissidents.
Floyd Abrams: The First Amendment is the soul of our democracy
The Dallas Morning News is publishing a multi-part series on important issues for voters to consider as they choose a president this year. This is the fourth installment of our What’s at Stake series, and it focuses on American culture. Find the full series here. In his State of the Union address delivered on Jan. 6, 1941, as war raged in the world outside the United States and one nation after another had fallen under the freedom-crushing control of Germany and Japan, President Franklin D.
Best First Amendment Books
recommended by Suzanne Nossel Frequently appealed to, less frequently understood, and by no means a free pass to say or write whatever you feel like: Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, the nonprofit dedicated to free expression, talks us through the best books to better understand America's venerated First Amendment. Before we get to the books, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution is our topic.
The Coronavirus Protests Are Protected by the Constitution - The New York Times
Although some states have tried to ban them, anti-lockdown demonstrations are protected by the First Amendment. Protesters gathered at the Capitol in Sacramento in April in spite of shelter-in-place rules in California.Credit...Josh Edelson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Opinion | Open the Impeachment Trial
The Senate has closed the door for deliberations in the past. It should let the public in. By Floyd Abrams, Hillary Greene and Melissa H. Maxman The writers are lawyers. Jan. 16, 2020, 2:58 p.m. ET Television crews set up in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building on Wednesday. It’s likely that the media will be kept out of parts of the impeachment trial.
Don't try Julian Assange under the Espionage Act
As the Trump administration seeks to persuade English judges to extradite Julian Assange to the U.S. to stand trial on charges of violating the Espionage Act, it is difficult not to have conflicting reactions. Some of Assange's revelations have not only been odious but also dangerous. But trying him under the Espionage Act itself endangers reputable journalists as well and the ability of the public to be informed by them.
Opinion: Money in politics might seem distasteful, but First Amendment protects it
Since the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791,17 amendments have been added to the U.S. Constitution. None of them sought to limit the scope of the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech and press, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. The result has been that the U.S. offers — sometimes controversially — more legal protection for disturbing and sometimes loathsome speech than anywhere else in the world.
Money in politics might seem distasteful, but the First Amendment protects it | Opinion
More broadly, those who seek a constitutional amendment are correct about one significant reality. There is vast income disparity in the nation and on every level that inevitably favors the wealthy. What need not follow from that, however, is that a wise response is to limit the amount of speech in political campaigns, including speech that advocates changes in our society, legislative and otherwise, to deal with the problem. Economic issues require economic solutions, not speech-limiting ones.
Opinion: Forcing vendors to put a warning on your cup of joe would violate the 1st Amendment
Eight years ago, an organization called the Council for Education and Research on Toxics commenced a lawsuit against coffee vendors in California, maintaining that to comply with Proposition 65, cancer warnings must be placed on lattes, cold brews and plain old cups of joe they sell in the state. Hundreds of millions dollars in damages have been sought from companies such as Starbucks for not including such warnings previously.
Opinion: Forcing vendors to put a warning on your cup of joe would violate the 1st Amendment
Eight years ago, an organization called the Council for Education and Research on Toxics commenced a lawsuit against coffee vendors in California, maintaining that to comply with Proposition 65, cancer warnings must be placed on lattes, cold brews and plain old cups of joe they sell in the state. Hundreds of millions dollars in damages have been sought from companies such as Starbucks for not including such warnings previously.
Commentary: Forcing vendors to put a warning on your cup of joe would violate the 1st Amendment
Eight years ago, an organization called the Council for Education and Research on Toxics commenced a lawsuit against coffee vendors in California, maintaining that to comply with Proposition 65, cancer warnings must be placed on lattes, cold brews and plain old cups of joe they sell in the state. Hundreds of millions dollars in damages have been sought from companies such as Starbucks for not including such warnings previously.
Commentary: Forcing vendors to put a warning on your cup of joe would violate the 1st Amendment
Eight years ago, an organization called the Council for Education and Research on Toxics commenced a lawsuit against coffee vendors in California, maintaining that to comply with Proposition 65, cancer warnings must be placed on lattes, cold brews and plain old cups of joe they sell in the state. Hundreds of millions dollars in damages have been sought from companies such as Starbucks for not including such warnings previously.
What Due Diligence Backs U.S. Denial of Advance Knowledge of the Khashoggi Plot?
Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance and alleged murder at the hands of a Saudi hit squad has shocked the world and further roiled diplomatic relations in a tense region. The United States cannot countenance that kind of violence against one of our lawful residents, especially when his alleged assassination was apparently motivated by his free exercise of political expression.
Exploring Gray Zones and LikeWar
On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., I picked up two inside-the-Beltway buzzy expressions. The first was: two finger. As in, “I have a two-finger,” or “I’d like to make a two-finger.” This expression was used over and over again at the all-day conference I was attending at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). I kind of got the gist of it — basically: I have something to say. But hearing it made me realize: I really am out of the Washington loop.
The Early Edition: October 11, 2018
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news. Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman ordered an operation to draw Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from his home in Virginia and then detain him, according to U.S. intelligence intercepts of Saudi aides discussing the plan.
What Facts Would Deny the Trump Campaign First Amendment Protections in Colluding with Russia
The recent commencement of litigation against the Trump presidential campaign by two donors to the Democratic Party and a former DNC employee raises interesting First Amendment issues. The case arises out of the publication by WikiLeaks, just as the Democratic Convention was about to begin in 2016, of thousands of e-mails written to and by the Democratic National Committee.
Floyd Abrams: Keep the government out of Google searches
President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, announced last week that the administration is “taking a look” at regulating Google’s conduct, given Trump’s complaints earlier in the day that the company’s search results suppress conservative views. Kudlow’s statement raises First Amendment concerns of the highest magnitude.
Floyd Abrams: Keep the government out of Google searches
President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, announced Tuesday that the administration is “taking a look” at regulating Google’s conduct, given Trump’s complaints earlier in the day that the company’s search results suppress conservative views.
Opinion | Keep the government out of Google searches
President Trump’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, announced Tuesday that the administration is “taking a look” at regulating Google’s conduct, given Trump’s complaints earlier in the day that the company’s search results suppress conservative views. Kudlow’s statement raises First Amendment concerns of the highest magnitude.
The First Amendment’s Undisputed Champion
It’s no surprise that many of the quickly drafted assessments of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s three decades on the Supreme Court have focused on his role as the man in the middle—the fifth, “swing” vote that determined monumental cases of a deeply divided court. This visage of Justice Kennedy can be overdrawn. In his final term, for example, he voted with his conservative colleagues in all 19 of the court’s 5-4 decisions. But there is no way to minimize the effect of the rulings that preserved Roe v.
Twitter ruling against Trump sends powerful First Amendment message
The consequences of the President's decision to block his critics from direct access to his tweets are not in doubt.
Opinion | When 2 + 2 Might Equal 5
England is the mother country of the United States, and much American law is deeply rooted in that of its maternal forebear. But in few areas do the two systems diverge more than on freedom of expression.
Why is The Wall Street Journal Ignoring Its Own Role in Andrew McCabe’s Firing?
As the furor over the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe persists, a journalistic issue of moment has been overlooked. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal on March 16th that was critical of McCabe concluded that firing him might persuade the public that “there are consequences for untruthfulness.” “Time and again,” the Journal concluded, “we have been assured of the FBI’s high standards.
Why is The Wall Street Journal Ignoring Its Own Role in Andrew McCabe’s Firing?
This column was originally published on March 22, 2018. As the furor over the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe persists, a journalistic issue of moment has been overlooked. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal on March 16 that was critical of McCabe concluded that firing him might persuade the public that “there are consequences for untruthfulness.” “Time and again,” the Journal concluded, “we have been assured of the FBI’s high standards.
The Citizens United Disaster That Wasn’t
“Starting today, corporations with large war chests to deploy on electioneering may find democratically elected bodies becoming much more attuned to their interests,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in a 90-page dissenting opinion. He retired from the Supreme Court at the end of that term and later suggested a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling.
The Citizens United Disaster That Wasn’t
When the Supreme Court announced its 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the public condemnation from certain quarters was fierce. The notion that a corporation would spend large sums of money to support or denounce a political candidate struck many Americans as deeply troubling. Some saw the court’s 5-4 ruling, which held that corporate political spending is protected by the First Amendment, as constituting a grave threat to the democratic fabric of society.
Is Free Speech Under Threat in the United States?
Floyd Abrams Free expression threatened? By Donald Trump? I guess you could say so. When a president engages in daily denigration of the press, when he characterizes it as the enemy of the people, when he repeatedly says that the libel laws should be "loosened" so he can personally commence more litigation, when he says that journalists shouldn't be allowed to use confidential sources, it is difficult even to suggest that he has not threatened free speech.
Symposium: Is Free Speech Under Threat in the United States?
Free expression threatened? By Donald Trump? I guess you could say so. When a president engages in daily denigration of the press, when he characterizes it as the enemy of the people, when he repeatedly says that the libel laws should be “loosened” so he can personally commence more litigation, when he says that journalists shouldn’t be allowed to use confidential sources, it is difficult even to suggest that he has not threatened free speech.
Cato Audio: June 2017
You may download the complete issue or select from individual clips from below.
Speech criticizing courts, and the American abandonment of English speech law
Excerpted, by permission of Yale University Press, from “The Soul of the First Amendment” by Floyd Abrams, 2017. In 1907, Thomas Patterson was a Denver newspaper publisher who favored municipal-owned and -operated electric power, which could come about only if cities such as Denver were permitted to engage in home rule.
Speech restrictions in the early 1900s
Excerpted, by permission of Yale University Press, from “The Soul of the First Amendment” by Floyd Abrams, 2017. For all its eighteenth-century lineage, the First Amendment was not seriously explored and then applied in opinions of the Supreme Court until well into the twentieth century. I had occasion, early in this century, to prepare an introduction to a book called Political Censorship containing New York Times articles on censorship published from 1900 through 1999.
On Finland, the United States, and the freedom of information and of the press
Every year, Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based organization, ranks every country in the world based on the degree to which it protects and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press. In 2016, the nation ranked as the most protective of these values was Finland. The decision came as no surprise. It was the sixth year in a row that Finland had been so honored. In 2016, the United State finished an anemic 41st in the rankings due to the Obama crackdown on whistleblowers.
The Soul of the First Amendment
Floyd Abrams is author of The Soul of the First Amendment.
Brief Books, Big Ideas
Of course, just as I was pondering whether “On Tyranny” exaggerates, Trump tweeted that the press is the enemy of the American people. That sounds awfully pre-fascist to me. So approach this short book the same way you would a medical pamphlet warning about an infectious disease. Read it carefully and be on the lookout for symptoms. THE SOUL OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT By Floyd Abrams 145 pp. Yale University, $26. Claims of American exceptionalism can be exaggerated.
ABA's decision to stifle report criticizing Trump an ominous sign
The decision of the American Bar Association to stifle publication of an article in a publication of the ABA Media Law Committee that was critical of Donald Trump was not only an unconscionable abandonment of free speech principles but an ominous sign of what may lie ahead. Think of it. A committee of media lawyers established by the ABA to assure protection of First Amendment rights determined to publish a detailed report about cases commenced by Trump.
Ban Hate Speech? by Floyd Abrams
Say What You Will? from the September 29, 2016 issue David Luban’s measured and thoughtful review of Timothy Garton Ash’s book Free Speech: Ten Principles in a Connected World [NYR, September 29] takes issue with the author’s opposition to so-called hate speech laws, ones that would be plainly unconstitutional in the United States but are the norm throughout democracies elsewhere, including Canada and Western European nations.
Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg decided to make available to the New York Times (and then to other newspapers) 43 volumes of the Pentagon Papers, the top- secret study prepared for the Department of Defense examining how and why the United States had become embroiled in the Vietnam conflict. But he made another critical decision as well. That was to keep confidential the remaining four volumes of the study describing the diplomatic efforts of the United States to resolve the war.
Floyd Abrams: Trump vs. the First Amendment
Speaking in Texas last week, Donald Trump made his first public comments about American libel law. When elected President, he said, he intends to “open” that law up, so when newspapers write “a hit piece, we can sue them and make money.” Trump repeated himself on Monday, saying “We’re going to get the laws changed so that the press has to be honest.” There are serious problems with that position, problems it’s hard to believe Trump is even aware of. The first is that there is no federal libel law.
Supreme Court needs 9 members to avoid tie on critical cases
Justice Antonin Scalia’s sad absence from the Supreme Court, and the likelihood as a result of the deeply disturbing decision of the Republican leadership not even to consider any potential successor nominated by President Obama, may well also leave the nation with a Supreme Court that is and will remain equally disabled to decide critical cases for well over a year.
Entrevue avec El Chapo : Mexico tourne son attention vers Sean Penn et Kate del Castillo
De gauche à droite : Kate del Castillo, Joaquin « El Chapo » Guzman et Sean Penn Photo : CBC (Avec Reuters) La poignée de main entre Joaquin « El Chapo » Guzman et Sean Penn a fait couler beaucoup d'encre depuis sa publication dans le magazine américain Rolling Stone, samedi. Elle a également mis l'acteur américain et sa facilitatrice dans la mire des autorités mexicaines. C'est l'actrice mexicaine Kate del Castillo qui a servi d'intermédiaire entre El Chapo et Sean Penn.
The Impact of the Bradley Manning Case - The New York Times
Op-Ed Contributors By Floyd Abrams and Yochai Benkler LAST month Pfc. Bradley Manning pleaded guilty to several offenses related to leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks in 2010, a plea that could land him in jail for 20 years. But Private Manning still faces trial on the most serious charges, including the potential capital offense of “aiding the enemy” — though the prosecution is not seeking the death penalty in this case, “only” a life sentence.
Smash His Camera Reviews
Fittingly, there is something both thrilling and deeply unpleasant about looking at Galella's body of work -- there is casual genius in some of the captured moments, a combination of access, timing, and luck, with the subject almost always carrying most of the image's weight. Read More
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