The theme of our conversation is freedom of expression under the First Amendment, and there’s relish in discussing the subject with a man who talks in long, long sentences uttered without pause for breath, as if expression were a form of physical exercise. Mr. Epstein, a professor at the University of Chicago and New York University, is among the Anglo-American world’s foremost legal academics. Although often lauded as America’s leading intellectual libertarian, he prefers to describe himself as a “classical liberal.” With the violence in Charlottesville, Va., still fresh in the mind, Mr. Epstein is concerned that the debate on free speech has taken an unwelcome turn. The American left, he says, is pushing hard for curbs on “offensive” speech, and “no good will ever come of that.”
Mr. Epstein cites with evident distaste a recent New York Times op-ed by K-Sue Park, a fellow in critical race studies at the UCLA School of Law. Ms. Park lamented that the American Civil Liberties Union had defended the right of the white-supremacy group behind the Charlottesville protest to organize its march. The ACLU, Ms. Park argued, needs to “rethink free speech” and stop standing up for people with offensive views.
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