The Amicus Curiae Lecture Series at Marshall University will host its first lecture of Spring 2017 when Thomas Healy presents “The Great Dissent: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and the Birth of Free Speech” on Tuesday, March 14, at 7 p.m. in the Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall. The lecture series is sponsored by the Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy with funding from the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Healy is the author of The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind – and Changed the History of Free Speech in America. The book won the 2014 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities Book Award. It was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and named one of the 15 best non-fiction books of 2013 by the Christian Science Monitor.
“Thomas Healy’s lecture is particularly timely in light of the current interest in the work of the media and free speech,” said Patricia Proctor, director of the Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy. “It is important for us as citizens to focus on the critical role of First Amendment protections in this country and to understand the evolution of what has long been considered a bedrock principle of our democracy.”
Healy is a professor of Constitutional and First Amendment law at Seton Hall University School of Law. Before attending law school, he was a journalist who covered the U.S. Supreme Court for The Baltimore Sun. He earned his B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his law degree from Columbia University.
“This lecture series generally has enjoyed great support from the university community as well as the community at large,” said Proctor. “It brings high caliber speakers – scholars in history and political science, legal practitioners, and noted authors – to the Huntington campus to talk about issues of current and historical significance in our democracy and people are often amazed by the new insights they experience as a result of hearing the thoughts of the lecturers.”
The lecture is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow the lecture.
For more information, contact Proctor at 304-696-2801 or patricia.proctor@marshall.edu.