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Understanding Post's And Meiklejohn's Mistakes: The Central Role Of Adversary Democracy In The Theory Of Free Expression, Martin H. Redish, Abby Marie Mollen

Martin H Redish

In this article we provide a comprehensive and original critique of the free speech theories of two of the most heralded scholars of all time, Alexander Meiklejohn and Robert Post, and in so doing employ their theories as a foil for the development of an entirely new theory of free expression, grounded in precepts of "adversary democracy." Both Post and Meiklejohn purport to ground their theories of free expression in democratic theory, but both misperceive the true normative and descriptive nature of American political theory, and in any event both fashion free speech theories that undermine even their own perceptions …