The 2019 Law Day theme—Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society—focuses on these cornerstones of representative government and calls on us to understand and protect these rights to ensure, as the U.S. Constitution proposes, “the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.” In the United States and around the world, freedom of speech and the press are among the most important foundations for a free society. Free speech and free press are prominent topics in public discourse and litigation. It is impossible to imagine a free society without these individual liberties, yet historical and current debates surrounding them continually challenge us to consider their boundaries and resilience.

To honor the occasion, the Scott County Bar Association and Rock Island County Bar Association hosted a noon luncheon on Wednesday, May 1 at the Radisson Quad City Plaza. Serving as keynote speaker, Iowa Supreme Court Justice Thomas Waterman discussed the ways in which Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society have reshaped how free speech and free press work in the everyday world.

For more information on this year’s Law Day theme, please visit: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/law-day/law-day-2019/

2019 Law Day Theme. (2019, May 1).  Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/law-day/law-day-2019/