Introduction xi
The Pentagon Papers Case 1
To the Supreme Court and After 32
Truth and the First Amendment 62
Wayne Newton and the Law 94
The Heroin Trail 124
McCarthyism and Libel 153
The Brooklyn Museum Case 188
Campaign Finance Reform and the First Amendment 231
At Home and Abroad 276
Acknowledgements 289
Notes 291
Index 299
Floyd Abrams is a partner at Cahill, Gordon & Reindel in New York City. Described by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan as the "most significant First Amendment lawyer of our age," Abrams is currently the William J. Brennan Visiting Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
"Charming, engaging, and often compelling." —The Washington Post"The best litigators are great storytellers, and the stories this litigator tells here are intrinsically interesting." —The New York Observer
In 1971, a young lawyer made his first appearance before the Supreme Court, successfully defending the New York Times against the Nixon administration's attempt to block publication of the Pentagon Papers. With that case, the cause of free speech found a formidable advocate. Abrams recounts his role in several landmark cases as he became the legal icon of an era of unparalleled extension of First Amendment protections. Most illuminating are Abrams's detailed explanations of the legal and psychological tactics he has used before the Supreme Court. He also creates some vividly villainous portraits of his antagonists, most notably Rudolph Giuliani ("deeply contemptuous of the First Amendment"), who was sued by the Brooklyn Museum of Art over his attempts to cut its financing after a controversial exhibit. Abrams rarely steps back from his courtroom reconstructions to make a more comprehensive argument for his nearly absolutist reading of the First Amendment. Only in describing his fight against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law does Abrams reason more broadly, and his powerful argument makes a reader wish the whole book had been more expansive. Still, Abrams conveys the nuance of constitutional law, the grappling for incremental advances in precedent, the interplay between the needs of his clients and the larger cause of free speech, and the sheer intellectual pleasure of legal disputation. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
"Charming, engaging, and often compelling." -The Washington Post"The best litigators are great storytellers, and the stories this litigator tells here are intrinsically interesting." -The New York Observer
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