On Topic: Free Expression with Jacob Mchangama, Jeffrey Rosen & Nadine Strossen

At this program, Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates a conversation with Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Professor Emerita and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Jacob Mchangama, the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech, about the history and ongoing importance of free expression in our republic. By tracing the Enlightenment origins of free speech, unpacking the history of the First Amendment, and exploring how the Supreme Court has applied these timeless principles to thorny legal issues, these free speech experts will provide salient background and context to current controversies and highlight the centrality of free expression to the maintenance of democratic government. 

About the Authors:

Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Professor Emerita and Senior Fellow at FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), was President of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008. An internationally acclaimed free speech scholar and advocate, who regularly addresses diverse audiences and provides media commentary around the world, Strossen serves on the advisory boards of the ACLU and several academic freedom/free speech organizations. She is the Host and Project Consultant for Free To Speak, a three-hour documentary film series distributed on public television in 2023. Her most recent books are: The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech— And Why They Fail (coauthored with FIRE President Greg Lukianoff) (2025); Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know (2023); and HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship (2018). In 2023, Strossen received the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Speech.

Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech. He is a research professor at Vanderbilt University and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). In 2018, he was a visiting scholar at Columbia’s Global Freedom of Expression Center. He has commented extensively on free speech and human rights in outlets including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. Jacob has published in academic and peer-reviewed journals, including Human Rights Quarterly, Policy Review, and Amnesty International’s Strategic Studies. He is the producer and narrator of the podcast “Clear and Present” Danger: A History of Free Speech and the critically acclaimed book Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media, published by Basic Books in 2022. He is the co-author of The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom (forthcoming 2026). He has received numerous awards for his work on free speech and human rights. 

About the Moderator:

Jeffrey Rosen is the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He was previously the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for the New Yorker. Rosen’s new book, Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle over Power in America, is out in October 2025. 

About Your Visit: 

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