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Democracy Dialogues: Hate Speech

Wake Forest Law School's Michael Curtis © Wake Forest Law School

Michael Curtis Date: Tuesday, 14 February 2006 Time: 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) -10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) View Webchat Transcript

As part of Democracy Dialogues' ongoing conversation, Wake Forest Law School's Michael Curtis will hold an online discussion about hate speech. Hate speech has been defined as speech intended to degrade, intimidate or incite violence against someone based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or disability, through written or oral communication. The United States and democratic governments throughout the world value freedom of speech, but many would argue that an individual's fundamental right to express their opinion should not extend so far as to protect speech intended to harm others. Should governments tolerate this kind of speech? In this Web discussion, Michael Curtis will examine ways in which democratic societies seek to address the issue of hate speech.

Guest Biography: Professor Michael Curtis teaches constitutional law, free speech, legal and constitutional history. He is the author of "No State Shall Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights, of Free Speech," "The People's Darling Privilege: Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American History," and of a number of articles on free speech and the constitutional history of the 14th Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

Curtis received the Student Bar Association Excellence in Teaching Award in 1997 and the Joseph Branch teaching award in 1999. He grew up in Galveston, Texas, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee, his J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) School of Law and a master's degree from the University of Chicago.

Prior to joining the faculty of the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1991, Curtis was a partner for 20 years with Smith Patterson, Follin, Curtis, James, Harkavy & Lawrence, following a North Carolina Supreme Court clerkship. In 1985, he received the Frank Porter Graham Award from the North Carolina Civil Liberties Union for achievement in defending and advancing civil liberties in North Carolina. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife Deborah Maury, who is also an attorney. He has one son, Matthew Fontaine Curtis-Maury.