Words to Eschew (on)
 
William Bennett Turner
 
 
No, I won’t lean in to create an impactful narrative
 
For I lack agency to unpack the national conversation
 
I could be proactive, get out of my lane, and pivot away from gaslighting
 
            But could I do the heavy lifting, see though a different lens,
 
            Be woke and set off a firestorm?
 
This would be a performative event, one to prioritize,
 
            If sufficiently incentivized.
 
Ah, the time is long past due
 
            And remains to be seen.
 
As I resist uttering words that are trite, hackneyed, cliched, overused and fatuous.

The work in progress became the article that I published today on Bloomberg Law.  Here's the link:  
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/insight-chief-justice-roberts-surprising-views-on-the-publics-right-to-know?context=search&index=0

In researching my book, I came across a list of John Roberts's publications that he submitted for his 2005 confirmation hearing. It included a law review article that he wrote in 1978 while a student at Harvard Law School. Lo and behold, it was about a case I had argued the previous year, Houchins v. KQED. The court ruled against me, holding there is no First Amendment right of access to government information. Roberts disagreed, even quoting from my brief. Here's a PDF of his article. Now that Roberts will be presiding over the impeachment trial, he may well have to decide issues involving access to government information, so I'm getting to work on an op-ed hoping he rediscovers his youthful enthusiasm for public access.

On Monday, November 4, I'll be at Book Passage at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, to talk about my new book, Free Speech for Some. 6:00 pm. Here's the link:  https://www.bookpassage.com/event/william-bennett-turner-free-speech-some-san-francisco-ferry-building-store

On October 30, USA Today published my op-ed, written with Dennis Aftergut, on the surprising connection between UkraineGate and the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United. Here's the link:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/10/30/trump-giuliani-ukraine-supreme-court-enables-corruption-column/2458012001/

Today Berkeleyside published a long interview of me about Free Speech for Some. Here's the link:
 https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/09/30/is-the-supreme-court-using-the-first-amendment-to-empower-corporations-the-right?utm_source=Berkeleyside+master+list

I just posted an article on The Berkeley Blog about the centennial of the Supreme Court's very first free speech cases. Here's the link: https://blogs.berkeley.edu/2019/01/23/a-free-speech-centennial-should-we-celebrate/

I published another blog post on The Berkeley Blog. Here's the link:
http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2018/03/13/trump-v-scalia-on-violent-video-games/

Here's another post for The Berkeley Blog, first posted December 4, 2017: http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2017/12/04/punishing-school-students-for-online-speech/

Here's a new blog post, prompted by the Court's taking two new First Amendment cases this week: http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2017/11/15/why-is-the-supreme-court-taking-all-these-free-speech-cases/