Freedom of Speech and the First Amendment: Presented by CT Mirror

Event Details

Explore the foundations of free expression at The Westport Library in partnership with CT Mirror.

Host Judge Daniel J. Klau leads a timely conversation with Emily Bazelon, staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, alongside Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition. Together, they’ll explore the First Amendment, free expression, and the forces shaping these rights in America today.

This event is part of an ongoing conversation. Join us Tuesday, November 10 for a book talk with Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber, whose new book Terms of Respect examines how universities navigate free speech, equality, and civil discourse.

About This Event

This vital conversation brings together a sitting Connecticut Superior Court judge, an award-winning journalist, and a leading First Amendment attorney to examine where free speech rights stand, where they’re being tested, and what the future may hold. Whether you follow First Amendment law closely or simply want to understand what’s at stake in today’s debates over press freedom, public discourse, and government transparency, this is a conversation worth having.

About the Speakers

Judge Daniel J. Klau has served on the Connecticut Superior Court since 2018, currently presiding over the Complex Litigation Docket in Waterbury. Before joining the bench, his legal career centered on appellate, First Amendment, and freedom of information matters, and he was frequently quoted as a leading voice on open government issues. He received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Boston University School of Law and clerked for Chief Justice Ellen Ash Peters of the Connecticut Supreme Court. Since 2003, he has also served as an adjunct professor at UConn School of Law, teaching courses on the First Amendment and privacy law.

Emily Bazelon is a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, a contributor to Times editorials, and the Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School. She is the co-host of Slate’s Political Gabfest and the author of two national bestsellers: Sticks and Stones, about preventing bullying, and Charged, about prosecutorial power, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2020. She was a National Magazine Award finalist in 2023 and is currently at work on a new book about women’s health and freedom.

Justin Silverman is the executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, where he leads First Amendment and open government advocacy across the six-state New England region. A Massachusetts-based attorney and former journalist and publisher, his commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. He has taught at the University of Maine School of Law, the University of Connecticut, and currently teaches at New England Law | Boston.