Original Meaning and the Freedom of Speech and Press: Some Illustrative Examples

Eugene Volokh*

There are many important big-picture questions about original meaning and the Free Speech, Free Press, Assembly, and Petition Clauses.¹ This short Essay will leave those questions for others. Instead, it will offer as illustrations some specific, concrete questions—and, in some instances, answers—about original meaning and the freedom of expression. I hope these narrow illustrations can help us think about the broader questions.

Continue reading in the print edition . . .

© 2026 Eugene Volokh. Individuals and nonprofit institutions may reproduce and distribute copies of this Essay in any format at or below cost, for educational purposes, so long as each copy identifies the author, provides a citation to the Notre Dame Law Review, and includes this provision in the copyright notice.

* Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law.

1 U.S. CONST. amend. I.