Jewish Champions of First Amendment (when is free speech viable?)

[MatthewHPolSci at aol.com]

I appreciate Professor Schweber's post.   Leaving aside  the former 
discussion of the Communists (which we could examine in some other  forum) the post 
contains the following statement:   “. . . this, of  course, is the question of 
whether it mattered whether support for free speech  was tactical.  But most 
people who argue in favor of free speech, freedom  of religion, or anything else 
do so in their own case.”
 
    This quoted portion is fundamental for  this forum of law professors, 
political scientists, and others.  Perhaps  someone feels ready, willing, and 
able to deal with the following  question.
 
     Assume a written constitution provides the  right of free speech.  What 
current writers in law or political  science (including those on this list) 
offer a contemporary empirical  theory as to the conditions under which free 
speech will be viable in a  political system and the conditions under which it 
will not be  viable?  (I continue to find merit in Merriam, The Written  
Constitution and the Unwritten Attitude (circa 1930),  but I appear to  be isolated 
in that regard.)
 
Concretely, who has offered a theory to show what persons or  groups will be 
allowed, in fact, to exercise the right of free speech, and  under what 
conditions?   If this has been disposed of already  to the satisfaction of most 
colleagues, I will be just as happy to receive  responses offline.   If, on the 
other hand, there is  some new work within the past five to ten years, or some 
work in progress, I  should especially like to know.
 
 
 
Matthew  Holden, Jr.
Henry L. and Grace M. Doherty Professor Emeritus of  Politics,
University of Virginia
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Address:
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mh3q at virginia.edu,
matthewhpolsci at aol.com,
matthewholden at bellsouth.net
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