i just received a most appropriate Thanksgiiving message from Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. It is a timely reminder of just how fragile and important our First Amendment freedoms are these days.
The true test of a First Amendment junky is whether this puts you in a holiday spirit for Thanksgiving.
It is a recording–a bit scratchy but still audible–of the oral argument in the US Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan. It is January 1964. JFK was assassinated only three months earlier. The Vietnam War was about to move to the front page. And the Supreme Court, in this case, would rediscover freedom of the press.
Follow this link and click on the audio icon half-way down the page. (NOT the one that says “No.40”; the other one):
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1963/1963_39
The voice you will hear is that of Herbert Wechsler, Columbia University law professor, for the NYT.
Happy Thanksgiving!
-Peter
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Peter Scheer, Executive Director
FIRST AMENDMENT COALITION
534 4th St., Suite B
San Rafael, CA 94901
firstamendmentcoalition.org