Book Chapter

Introduction: The Many Paths to Neutrality, in First Amendment Stories 1 (Richard W. Garnett and Andrew Koppelman eds., 2012)

First Amendment Stories goes behind the scenes of landmark, foundational cases involving the fundamental freedoms of speech, religion, and the press. By filling in the details, setting the stage, and presenting fully the context, the text provides readers with a richer understanding of these cases, the people involved in them, and their implications for the future. Considered together, these stories highlight the leading themes and questions that have animated our legal doctrines, and our public conversations, about the conflicts that arise between the power and goals of government, on the one hand, and the liberty and conscience of the individual, on the other. This Stories title will enrich First Amendment courses and help students appreciate the premises that animate the cases and the values that are at stake in religious-liberty and free-speech controversies, rarely captured fully by doctrinal presentations