Join the National Constitution Center, in partnership with a coalition of leading free speech organizations, for a National First Amendment Summit to address the increasing threats to freedom of expression and to celebrate the opening of the Center's new First Amendment gallery.

To lead off the event, author and free-speech advocate Salman Rushdie will participate in a virtual keynote conversation with PEN America’s Suzanne Nossel about the importance of free speech in a democratic society and the forces of censorship that imperil its existence, followed by a series of panels with America’s leading First Amendment thinkers.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER

525 Arch Street | Philadelphia, PA

4 p.m. Welcome reception and access to the new First Amendment gallery

5:30–8 p.m. Program

For more event details, visit our website.

Keynote Conversation: Salman Rushdie via livestream with PEN America’s Suzanne Nossel

Panel 1: The Origins of the First Amendment and Its Central Role in Democracy

Exploring the history and meaning of the principles of free expression

• Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University
• Jacob Mchangama, founder and CEO of Justitia; research professor at Vanderbilt University
• Stephen Solomon, Marjorie Deane Professor of Journalism at New York University; founder of NYU’s First Amendment Watch
• Moderator: Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center

Panel 2: The First Amendment in the Courts

Exploring the current legal controversies, from defamation to true threats

• Floyd Abrams, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel 
• Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
• Lyrissa Lidsky, Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Chair in U.S. Constitutional Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law
• Moderator: Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Panel 3: The First Amendment on Campus and Online

Exploring threats to speech in an age of new technologies 

• Will Creeley, legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
• Jeannie Suk Gersen, John H. Watson, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
• Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita, at New York Law School
• Moderator: Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center

About the First Amendment Gallery

On September 6, 2023, the National Constitution Center will open its newest gallery, The First Amendment. The gallery will offer a fresh perspective on the history of the First Amendment and how it impacts us today.

The 1,500-square-foot exhibit will feature more than 20 artifacts highlighting all five freedoms, including handwritten case notes from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis; the anti-Vietnam War armband worn by the Tinker family, the centerpiece of the student speech case, Tinker v. Des Moines; The New York Times’ publication of the classified “Pentagon Papers;” and a pennant from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The First Amendment is made possible through the generous underwriting of The George Family Foundation and Lilly Endowment Inc. and through the generous support of The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and The McLean Contributionship. Learn more about the gallery

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