With a shout-out to superstar Ariana Grande, this will be my last Chair’s Column. I thank you for the honor of serving in this role.
The past few years have been tumultuous, to say the least. Two presidential elections, with the losing candidate each time claiming that the winner was illegitimate. The 2024 race promises even more attacks and polarization, fueled by artificial intelligence and deepfakes—terms that were not part of the popular lexicon just a few years ago.
I recently read with interest that our friends at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) are partnering with the Polarization Research Lab (PRL), a research organization studying and documenting the partisan divide that is embedded in our daily national life. PRL’s research now will include questions to survey Americans’ confidence in the state of the First Amendment. The April 2024 topline survey results appear at the link in the note below. The National Speech Index will be conducted quarterly.
According to the survey, 63 percent of the 1,000 American respondents believe the nation is headed in the “wrong direction” concerning whether people are able to freely express their views. Significant numbers are concerned about losing their job because someone complains about something they have said, with only 33 percent stating that they are “not at all worried.” People overwhelmingly self-censor their comments, questions, or words (from rarely to very often)—which may not be a bad thing to live in a civil society. The respondents also overwhelmingly agreed that using physical violence to stop speech is not acceptable.
Unsurprisingly, the survey reveals some ideological differences, with respondents who self-identify as very liberal/liberal being somewhat more positive about the security of the First Amendment than those who self-identify as conservative. Moderates fall in the middle. A comparison of the two major party presidential candidates will surprise most in our Forum—45 percent of respondents stated that they have no confidence/very little confidence that President Biden will protect their First Amendment rights, while 47 percent of respondents give the same lack-of-confidence vote to former President Trump.
The survey also tested speech on campus, with 53 percent of respondents stating that colleges should never or rarely take positions on political issues. It will be interesting to see what the next quarterly survey reveals after protests over the Israel-Hamas war increased as graduations approached and captured the public’s attention.
As for me and my house, I choose to remain optimistic. It will take resolve, but we can extinguish the fires that seem to be burning all around us. The First Amendment is first for a reason. Individually and collectively, we can make a difference.
The Forum adopted its long-range plan in May 2022, shortly after I was handed the baton. It can be found on our webpage. The plan contains both aspirational goals and nuts-and-bolts planning. I encourage you to read it. Please volunteer to play a part in the future success of what I call our “small but scrappy” Forum.
Among my goals was to run well-executed back-to-back years and leave the Forum in strong shape for my successor. Here are some of what I consider to be among the highlights:
Our efforts have been recognized by the larger ABA. We were thrilled to announce during the Annual Conference in Santa Barbara that just a few hours earlier, at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Louisville, our Forum had been named the 2024 recipient of the ABA Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award. This recognition is the result of a lot of hard work over the years by plenty of people.
In addition, the Forum nominated our friend and colleague Barbara Wall, former Forum chair and Gannett General Counsel, to be recognized with an ABA Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. Unsurprisingly to those who know Barbara, the ABA enthusiastically tapped Barbara as one of five award recipients in the nation.
These successes certainly have been a group effort, and those who have been part of my cloud of witnesses are too many to thank here. I will single out the Conference Planning Committee, the Governing Committee, my “kitchen cabinet,” and Lee Swanson, our Forum director.
This is not to say that all efforts were successful or all things are rosy. In particular, our Forum has not been immune from membership drops in the ABA, although we have done better than many other sections and forums. I ask that each member recruit one more person to join our Forum and attend our conferences. Our Forum is extremely “sticky” when folks see the benefits of active participation.
I am thrilled to be handing the reins off to my friend Laura Prather, who will do a phenomenal job as chair. Her term officially begins in September, but she has been laboring tirelessly for months on Forum planning including the upcoming annual conference in Austin (February 6–8, 2025). In keeping with my tradition, $5 to the first three people to email Laura (cc to me) to congratulate her and offer to help.
Thank you for the honor of serving the Forum.
Best, Robb