Robert Post, Law, Yale University

Photo of Robert Post.

Robert Post, Law, Yale University

“Religion and Freedom of Speech: Cartoons and Controversies”
Una's Lecture
Lipman Room, Barrows Hall

Robert Post is David Boies Professor of Law at Yale University. His subject areas are constitutional law, the First Amendment, legal history, and affirmative action, and his books include Constitutional Domains: Democracy, Community, Management and Prejudicial Appearances: The Logic of American Antidiscrimination Law. Professor Post is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies.

About the Lecture: Post's lecture addresses the enduring tension between democracy’s need for a free and open public sphere and the need to protect dignity and ensure civility, using European controversies concerning the publication of possibly blasphemous and Islamophobic Danish cartoons as an example. He pays particular attention to how the law in Europe and America has sought to maintain a democratic public sphere that allows free speech, while also protecting religious truths and sensibilities.