Stuart Kyle Duncan, conservative judge at Stanford, was beaten by Stuart Kyle Duncan. He was accompanied by the National Lawyers Guild. This is a Communist front organization with roots in the 1930s radical left.
Alan Dershowitz provides a brief history and explains how the NLG has been trying to suppress conservative views at universities. They have chapters in more than 100 schools and are just beginning to disrupt conservative speech.
Dershowitz claims that the NLG attempts to make the shout-downs seem like spontaneous expressions of anger. The truth is quite different. This is Judge Duncan’s attempt to silence him. You might also notice that some members of the audience tried to get Duncan to make inappropriate remarks.
Dershowitz points out, that schools should not be invited to speak conservatively because of the outbursts these speakers incite.
Protests and demonstrations are protected under the First Amendment as well as the principles of freedom speech. It is illegal to prevent speakers from speaking before willing listeners. It is not appropriate to harass students who invite conservative speakers as the National Lawyers Guild did. They not only violate the rights of speakers they disrupt but also those who attend to hear them. Thurgood Marshall, the late Supreme Court Justice, observed that “the freedom to speak and freedom to hear are inseparable. They are both two sides of one coin.” The disruptors violated both rights.
So far, disruptions have only occurred at Yale Stanford and Georgetown law schools. You can be certain that they will soon visit a school near you. The NLG won’t be satisfied until every conservative speaker is barred from speaking at any law school. It is its goal, and it may succeed. However, cowardly administrators, especially deans of diversity to avoid embarrassment like what happened at Stanford and Yale, Georgetown, will make sure that conservative speakers are not invited to law schools. They know that it is easier to object to the non-invitation to conservative speakers than to publicly disrupt them.
Dershowitz weighs in on freedom of speech and the inevitable consequences for giving the government the power censorship.
Many people are able to question whether it is appropriate to protect hateful, offensive, and even dangerous speech. History has the answer. When governments have the power to ban such expressions, they make extensive use of that power to censor criticism of their leaders and partisans. The censor’s appetite is fervent. Others, especially those in power, will consider legitimate opinions that are not seen by dissidents to be hateful or offensive. Free speech is not always free. It can be dangerous and hurtful. It is well worth it in the end.
If you give the government an inch, they will take a moonshot. This should be taught to all students at all ages.
Reading the Federalist Papers makes it clear that founders felt the exact same way. After witnessing the Revolution, they knew how easy it was for people to lose their right to speak, write, and worship. It was not an accident that the Bill of Rights needed to be approved before it could be ratified.
How can we have lost that reverence for our most basic rights?
