Eugene Volokh

Los Angeles

Eugene Volokh teaches free speech law, religious freedom law, church-state relations law, a First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic, a class on Persuasion, and an Intensive Editing Workshop at UCLA School of Law, where he has also often taught copyright law, criminal law, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy. Before coming to UCLA, he clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Alex Kozinski on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (6th ed. 2016), and Academic Legal
Latest from Eugene Volokh

Trump has a point: Facebook’s policing of speech is ominous

The case for treating social media companies more like phone companies than newspapers

July 15, 2021

The case for quoting the n-word in university classrooms

If the slur is mentioned in key court decisions, it should not be taboo in law schools.

May 13, 2021

Many thanks, and our move from The Post to Reason

Our new address will be reason.com/volokh.

December 13, 2017

‘The Government has established an institutionalized faith and religion of taxism’

"Plaintiff contends that requiring citizens to file an individual tax return establishes a religion centered on the Internal Revenue Service."

December 12, 2017

Trump’s statements ‘too vague, subjective, and lacking in precise meaning’ to be libelous

New York appellate court affirms dismissal of libel lawsuit brought by political commentator Cheri Jacobus.

December 12, 2017

‘Wife … had hung a Hello Kitty towel on her door’ — what am I missing here?

This fact appears in a discussion of whether the husband and wife had separated at the time -- but I just don't quite see the relevance.

December 12, 2017

‘Beware of the Internet and Facebook. You might find yourselves paying damages to someone.’

An odd warning by a Louisiana judge about statements that he says were "loose, gossipy, and reflected a lynch-mob mentality" -- but that he agreed were legally nonactionable opinion.

December 12, 2017

“For at least six reasons, the motion [for emergency injunction against allegedly defamatory web sites] is DENIED”

Online criticism; alleged Hezbollah ties; "six [legal] actions on two continents"; and a judge's suggestion of sanctions for an unwarranted emergency injunction request.

December 11, 2017

Logos, ethos and pathos (not to be confused with Athos, Porthos and Aramis)

Logos is logic and pathos is emotion (compare "pathetic," or for that matter "pathos"); but what's ethos?

December 11, 2017

Short Circuit: A roundup of recent federal court decisions

Asian long-horned beetles, dreadlock discrimination, Teslas and more.

December 11, 2017