From Yale University Press, SOUL OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT provides an overview of freedom of speech and is written by legal expert Floyd Abrams, who has taught at Yale Law School and litigated cases such as the Pentagon Papers and Citizens United. Abrams, too, contrasts, America with other Western democratic states, noting that the First Amendment (his "rock star of the American Constitution") contains only 45 words, including nine which prohibit the government from "abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." Abrams divides his argument into sections which provide some historical context, compares the legal protection in the US to other countries, explains the importance of Bridges v. California, examines the right to be forgotten and the funding of political campaign spending and then concludes with a discussion of ongoing issues like those concerning classified materials. It is that last section which is particularly interesting, since Abrams begins, "having sweeping First Amendment rights does not begin to answer the question of how to use them." Much to ponder here.

The first amendment to the constitution is American exceptionalism writ large. It keeps the USA from participating in legal judgments internationally, because virtually everyone else’s speech laws are more restrictive in fact. It might not be the most liberal doctrine in the world, but it is the most scrupulously applied. Floyd Abrams has been a hands-on lawyer in matters of free speech – for decades. I was rather hoping for some dramatic insight from his experience, but The Soul Of The First Amendment is a quick review of how to observe it.

Abrams has a very uncomfortable chapter on Citizens United, in which he represented the winning (Republican) side. He acknowledges that 80% of Americans think the Supreme Court decision is wrong, but he defends it as fair, natural, obvious and consistent with the first amendment. He continually points instead to the power of the press, but at the beginning of the book he quotes the founders as wanting the press to be the exception: that nothing should ever restrain it. To the point of not bothering to include it in the first amendment because that was redundant. So it’s not really on the table in Citizens United.

He addresses that billion dollar funds and corporations should have the same speech rights as individuals - as accepted. Period. It’s uncomfortable because (from down here) it’s not that government and corporations might swamp politics with money. It’s that their influence should have no place in the discourse among the voters. There should be nothing wrong with setting limits at the lowest common denominator. My money cannot compete with Koch Industries, and Koch Industries doesn’t get a vote. So why is it allowed to cloud the conversation? That’s where Citizens United goes off the rails for most Americans, but Abrams skirts that event horizon. I don’t blame him, but it makes the book incomplete.

The final chapter poses the self-censorship problems of the press – whether to publish whistleblower documents and other “Top Secret” files. Nobody likes to have their secrets exposed, but Americans don’t like being spied on in secret, either. But again, the press is not part of the constitution’s equation.

The Soul Of The First Amendment doesn’t examine online speech, trolls, gag orders, harassment (other than a short foray into abortion clinic harassment) or secret courts. At just 137 pages, it can’t tackle every aspect. It does put forth a thoughtful analysis of the aspects it does examine, which is a pleasant relief from the strident accusations of our time. Not enough however.

David Wineberg