Law professor weighs in on 'no cussing' bill

James Weinstein, Amelia Lewis Professor of Constitutional Law at the College of Law, was recently quoted in an Associated Press article, featured on the ABC News website, titled “No Cussing in Class for Teachers, Lawmaker Says.”

The Feb. 15 article reported on a bill introduced by the state legislature that would punish public school teachers if they use words that violate the obscenity and profanity guidelines set forth by the Federal Communications Commission.

Weinstein said the proposal may be constitutional, but “not necessarily wise.” The FCC has made exceptions for offensive language based on context, and that could make things complicated, he added.

Weinstein’s areas of academic interest are constitutional law, especially free speech, as well as jurisprudence and legal history. He is co-editor of "Extreme Speech and Democracy" (Oxford University Press 2009, paperback edition 2010); the author of "Hate Speech, Pornography and the Radical Attack on Free Speech Doctrine" (Westview Press 1999); and has written numerous articles in law review symposia on a variety of free speech topics, including: free speech theory, obscenity doctrine, institutional review boards, commercial speech, database protection, campaign finance reform, the relationship between free speech and constitutional rights, hate crimes, and campus speech codes.