Alumnus Wayne Batchis (CAS 1996) Publishes New Book on “The Right’s First Amendment”
Wayne Batchis (BA Sociology and Political Science, 1996), Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Delaware, has published a new book entitled The Right’s First Amendment: The Politics of Free Speech & The Return of Conservative Libertarianism (Stanford University Press, 2016). Based on examination of six decades of the writings of conservative thought leaders, and the evolution of constitutional law and the ideological predispositions of Supreme Court justices, the book explores conservatives’ increasingly strong support of the First Amendment as a defense against political correctness and as establishing freedom of commercial expression. These associations contrast sharply with the earlier association of the amendment with the free speech rights of political liberals, as on the college campuses of the 1960s. Floyd Abrams, long one of the nation’s preeminent experts on the First Amendment, said of the book: “The Right’s First Amendment describes, with gusto and fairness, this startling shift in conservative views, one with major impact on the liberty of all Americans.”
Dr. Batchis was the 1996 winner of the undergraduate College Prize for Excellence in Sociology. Congratulations, Wayne!