Professor Volokh Discusses Whether Petition Signatures are Protected Speech Under First Amendment in New York Times Article

October 31, 2009 -- Professor Eugene Volokh discussed whether petition signatures are protected speech under the First Amendment in a New York Times article.

As Eugene Volokh, a professor specializing in First Amendment issues at the University of California, Los Angeles, law school, put it, “Now, public access really is public access.”

Mr. Volokh said that the “talk of retaliation” had added complexity to the Washington case and raised the question of whether, if the names are disclosed, “you’re really not going to get an accurate measure of public sentiment” because people will become reluctant to sign petitions. He said confrontation had been a theme in other gay rights campaigns, including in California last year with Proposition 8, whose passage outlawed same-sex marriage there.

To read the entire article, click here.