Lectures on Tap - F* the Draft: The Case That Redefined Free Speech

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🧠 Lecture: "F* the Draft: The Case That Redefined Free Speech"

🎤 Speaker: Prof. Dan Breen

Join us for a riveting evening as Prof. Dan Breen takes us inside the landmark Supreme Court case that reshaped the meaning of free speech in America.

In the spring of 1968, amid the turmoil of the Vietnam War, 19-year-old Paul David Cohen walked into a Los Angeles courthouse wearing a jacket emblazoned with a vulgar message about the draft. Arrested for “disturbing the peace” based on the supposed potential for violence, Cohen refused to accept a 30-day sentence and instead fought his case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Guided by a 71-year-old Justice who seemed to share nothing in common with the young defendant, the Court issued a decision that remains the strongest affirmation of free expression in American law.

Prof. Dan Breen, a professor of Legal Studies at Brandeis University, holds a law degree from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in History from Boston College. His forthcoming book on the public monuments of Boston is scheduled for publication in Fall 2027.

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