COLORADO LAW TALKS - The Government's Speech and the Constitution

When	Wednesday, February 28, 2018 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Location	Sherman & Howard L.L.C., 633 17th St #3000, Denver, CO 80202
For	Public; Faculty; Staff; Students; Alumni; CLE Credit
Cost	See Description

Under what circumstances does the government's speech threaten equality or liberty such that it offends the Equal Protection or Due Process Clauses? And under what circumstances, if any, does the Constitution prohibit our government from lying to us?

Governments have been speaking for as long as there have been governments; indeed, governments have to speak in order to govern. The list of ways in which the government communicates to the public is long and constantly growing. More traditional examples include resolutions, speeches, reports, press releases, press conferences, and radio and television addresses. New expressive technologies now empower government to speak in new ways through Twitter and other social media postings, webcasts, blogs, wikis, virtual worlds, and more. The government’s speech is unusually powerful precisely because of its governmental source. The government is unique among speakers because of its coercive power, its considerable resources, its often-privileged access to key information, and its wide variety of expressive roles as policymaker, employer, educator, property owner, and more, and through its speech, can educate, deceive, shame, inspire, scapegoat, silence, empower, challenge, comfort, distress, divert, and distract.

This talk will focus on the ways in which the government’s speech performs constitutionally valuable functions, constitutional safeguards against and protections afforded government speech, and what we might call the dark side of the government’s speech. This discussion should be of interest to all, especially individuals who represent and counsel government agencies and other bodies about the constitutionality of their actions, as well as those who represent potential challengers to the government’s speech.

Professor Helen Norton holds the Ira C. Rothgerber, Jr. Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of Colorado and is a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice.

This event is free for all Colorado Law students, faculty, and staff, recent graduates (2012-2017), and Law Alumni Ambassadors, $10 for all other alumni, and $20 for other guests. CLE credit is requested, and a reception will follow the talk. Please register to attend by February 21 using the link below.

More Information

Contact	Julie Ann Williams lawevents@colorado.edu
Website	http://www.cvent.com/events/the-government-s-speech-and-the-constitution/event-summary-9533a2c24ac24a998713fa111bb23c4e.aspx
Sponsored By	Sherman & Howard L.L.C.
Moderated By	Dean S. James Anaya
Speakers	Professor Helen Norton
CLE Credits	General: 1 Ethics: 0