Election Law: Free Speech Protections Under the First Amendment

What is the intersection of the First Amendment’s free speech protections with election law? The First Amendment impacts campaigns, their fundraising abilities and constraints, and citizens' rights to support their candidates and issues of choice. With elections always on the horizon, this program will cover how the First Amendment interacts with the candidates and campaigns that are a part of daily life.

This course examines aspects of election law covered by the Constitution’s First Amendment protections. Attendees will learn how those protections affect candidate campaigns and ballot measures. Finally, future cases, potential lawsuits, and how technological advances could change elections will be discussed.

Attorneys at any level seek a refresher or introductory course on how the First Amendment impacts elections.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify major principles gleaned from prominent Supreme Court cases like Citizens United, Buckley v. Valeo, and McConnell v. FEC
• Determine how these cases have reverberated for modern-day elections
• Evaluate how restraints on campaigns work in media, social media, and other contexts
• Gain a basic understanding of why campaigns work the way that they do
• Explore the frontiers of the doctrines and case law and where they might go next for future campaigns and election laws

Production Date: 10/15/24 | Closed captioning (CC) available