Professors Owen Fiss & Robert Post Debate Campaign Finance and the First Amendment

Posted on April 17, 2006

On Wednesday, Apr. 19, at 6:30pm in Room 128 , Professors Owen Fiss and Robert Post will debate the true meaning of the First Amendment as it applies to campaign spending limits (before Court this Term in Randall v. Sorrell).

This term the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on Vermont's campaign expenditure limites. This marks the first time in 30 years--since the infamous Buckley v. Valeo--that the Court has squarely faced the question of whether caps on campaign spending can pass constitutional muster.

We are lucky to have here at Yale two leading First Amendment scholars wirth very different ideas about the purpose of Free Speech protections. Professors Fiss and Post will discuss the following questions:

• Is Free Speech all about protecting the autonomy of the speaker?  Or is the First Amendment listener-focused and concerned with the structure of our democracy?

• Are spending limits essential reforms that level the playing field for non-wealthy candidates and voters?  Or, are they a dangerous step down the slippery slope toward government-controlled speech?      

• Should the Supreme Court uphold campaign spending limits in this Term’s case Randall v. Sorrell?

*Dinner will be served.*