1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910154653803321

Autore

Bird Wendell R

Titolo

Press and speech under assault : the early Supreme Court justices and the Sedition Act of 1798, and the campaign against dissent

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, NY : , : Oxford University Press, , 2016

ISBN

0-19-046164-0

0-19-046198-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Disciplina

345.73/0231

345.730231

Soggetti

Seditious libel - History - Law and legislation - 18th century - United States

Freedom of expression - History - 18th century - United States

Alien and Sedition laws, 1798

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sommario/riassunto

The early Supreme Court justices wrestled with how much press and speech is protected by freedoms of press and speech, before and under the First Amendment, and with whether the Sedition Act of 1798 violated those freedoms. This book discusses the 12 Supreme Court justices before John Marshall, their views of liberties of press and speech, and the Sedition Act prosecutions over which some of them presided. The book begins with the views of the pre-Marshall justices about freedoms of press and speech, before the struggle over the Sedition Act. It finds that their understanding was strikingly more expansive than the narrow definition of Sir William Blackstone, which is usually assumed to have dominated the period. Not one justice of the Supreme Court adopted that narrow definition before 1798, and all expressed strong commitments to those freedoms.