Free Speech for Some (Updated Edition)
How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing the First Amendment to Empower Corporations and the Religious Right 

Has the First Amendment become a tool to promote the conservative agenda?
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On June 27, 2018, Justice Elena Kagan, dissenting from the Supreme Court’s decision in a free speech case, accused the Roberts Court majority of “weaponizing the First Amendment”–of “turning the First Amendment into a sword”and using it to serve a conservative political agenda. The U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., has decided more free speech cases than any previous court in history. The decisions have mostly favored free speech claims.
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But the court increasingly has found First Amendment protection not for dissidents and minorities but for businesses and conservative religious interests. The court has taken free speech principles developed decades ago to shield and empower oppressed minorities and applied them to shield and empower corporations and the religious right. The book critically examines how the Roberts Court has decided the key cases, changed the rules on free speech, engineered outcomes, and become the willing vehicle for advancing the conservative agenda. Justice Kagan was right.

The book was updated and electronic version published September, 2020. Order the book from Amazon (Kindle available), Barnes & Noble (Nook available) or any bookstore. ​
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Praise for Free Speech For Some

“This book is really an eye-opener. If you care about freedom of speech, Bill Turner’s book is a must-read. He clearly lays out an alarming Roberts Court pattern to abuse the First Amendment to achieve a conservative outcome.”
--Barbara Boxer, former US Senator and co-host of The Boxer Podcast

“In this excellent and timely book, William Bennett Turner shows us how our current Supreme Court has, case by case, reshaped First Amendment protection for free speech, to the benefit of corporations, special interests, and conservative causes.  Free Speech for Some is lucid, judicious, and brimming with authoritative insights into this troubling development.”
--Thelton E. Henderson, former Chief Judge, United States District Court

“Bill Turner has turned his unique experience as litigator, teacher and journalist into a masterful scholarly but eminently readable analysis of the Supreme Court’s use of the First Amendment to advance a conservative political agenda. Rare is a book about law so jargon free.” 
--Michael Meltsner, Matthews University of Professor of Law at Northeastern School of Law and author of The Making of a Civil Rights Lawyer 

"Justice Elena Kagan wrote of the conservatives weaponizing the First Amendment.   Bill Turner tells us what this means and why it ultimately is about empowering corporations and the religious right.  In a very clear, accessible book, Turner has sounded an alarm that we must heed."
--Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
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Free Speech
Supreme Court Opinions from the Beginning to the Roberts Court

Free Speech: Supreme Court Opinions from the Beginning to the Roberts Court is a curated collection of Supreme Court opinions on the topic of free speech. These opinions help students learn how justices think, reason, express themselves, wrestle with contentious issues, and reach decisions on them.

The book covers almost a century of free speech opinions, from the classics to recent decisions by the Roberts Court, that address subversive and offensive speech, incitement to violence, obscenity, and whether corporations have First Amendment rights. It features many precedent-setting cases including Schenck v. United States (shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater), the Pentagon Papers case, and Citizens United.

Each opinion has been edited to eliminate unnecessary legal and procedural side issues and ensure accessibility for all readers. The opinions are framed by commentary that provides context and analysis to educate readers about the extent to which we have free speech and how the principles were established. Free Speech is well-suited to political science, history, rhetoric, communications, law, and legal studies courses, and is an excellent reference tool for legal practitioners.

To order the book, visit https://titles.cognella.com/free-speech-9781516504787.html or Amazon.

Figures of Speech
First Amendment Heroes and Villains

Recounting controversial First Amendment cases from the Red Scare era to Citizens United, William Bennett Turner shows how we’ve arrived at our contemporary understanding of free speech. His strange cast of heroes and villains, some drawn from cases he has litigated, includes Communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ku Klux Klansmen, the world’s leading pornographer, prison wardens, dogged reporters, federal judges, a computer whiz, and a countercultural comedian. This is a fascinating look at how the scope of our First Amendment freedoms has evolved and the colorful characters behind some of the most important legal decisions of modern times.

To order the book, visit www.bkconnection.com
Book available at your local (or online) bookstore and at Amazon.com.

Praise for Figures of Speech

“In Figures of Speech, celebrated civil rights attorney Bill Turner has crafted a rare gem: a concise, clearly written book that provides a trenchant introduction to the complexities of First Amendment law as well as riveting, behind-the-scenes accounts of some of the most controversial free-speech cases in American history. Anyone interested in politics, the law, and the future of American democracy should read this important, vigorously argued book.”
--Robert Perkinson, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire

“Turner infuses his book with energy and passion for the First Amendment. He tells fascinating stories of unlikely heroes and explains difficult legal issues clearly and concisely, educating and entertaining at the same time.”
--Elizabeth Farnsworth, The PBS NewsHour

“William Turner’s compelling stories make you want to shout ‘Hooray’ for the heroes and hiss the villains. And his scholarly history of the First Amendment helps you understand why you are free to run out and do both.”
--Elaine Elinson, Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California

“With these keenly etched portraits of idealists, misfits, and eccentrics, Bill Turner brings the First Amendment alive—just as he has done in the classroom and courtroom for a generation.”
--Tom Goldstein, University of California, Berkeley