The Glenn Show: Free Speech and Protest at Stanford Law

Earlier this month, Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a religious conservative appointed to the court by Donald Trump, went to Stanford Law School to deliver a speech at the invitation of the school’s student Federalist Society chapter. But when he actually attempted to speak, he was met by disruptions from student protestors who attempted shout him down and interrupt him. After he spoke (or attempted to speak), Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tirien Steinbach stepped up to, in effect, endorse many of the objections of the protestors. When Stanford Law School President Jenny Martinez released a statement condemning the protestors’ methods and apologizing to Judge Duncan, she was met with another round of protests.

My guests this week, David Sacks and Spencer Segal, are Stanford Law students and Federalist Society members who witnessed the event and its aftermath. I invited them on the show to get their view on what looks to me like yet another instance of student protest squelching free speech on campus. In this episode, they offer their account of what happened and an eminently reasonable defense of free speech on campus, which, as they emphasize, includes the right to protest. But they also emphasize that protest does not include the right to prevent others from speaking. Support for free speech is waning in the very quarters where it should be most vociferously defended: law schools whose students will one day be responsible for upholding and interpreting the constitution. Free speech is not, however, without its defenders, and I’m proud to have two of them on the show with me.

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