Scopes v. ACLU: A Case Study

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Scopes and Gonzales is a fascinating case that sheds light on the ACLU's changing approach to free speech in civil liberties. The law was defended by Arthur Garfield Hayes, who argued it had been duly passed by a legislature; elites through the courts had no business to strike it down. He defended the law on the Democratic grounds that it hadbeen duly passed as part of an anti-evolution campaign.

Featuring Laura Weinrib on The Taming of Free Speech: America’s Civil Liberties Compromise. Did you know that the ACLU was founded as a radical labor organization allied with the IWW? Weinrib traces the rise of the modern civil liberties movement, and modern constitutional liberalism more broadly, from World War I through the New Deal. She explains how the ACLU went from defending free speech as a means to revolutionary ends to a liberal position exalting free speech as an end unto itself—including the anti-union speech of bosses and the political speech of corporations. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America by Joshua Frank haymarketbooks.org/books/1940-atomic-days Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages by Ray Acheson haymarketbooks.org/books/1883-abolishing-state-violence