The Taming of Free Speech: America’s Civil Liberties Compromise

In The Taming of Free Speech (Harvard University Press), Laura Weinrib *11 reevaluates our understanding of the American Civil Liberties Union’s court battles on behalf of striking workers between 1910 and 1940. The ACLU toned down their rhetoric in order to prevail in court, and liberals opposed this strategy, fearing that it would legitimize the judiciary in being too friendly to corporations. However, conservatives embraced civil liberties despite their radical roots. The resulting transformation in constitutional jurisprudence — often understood as a triumph for the left — was, in fact, a calculated bargain.