Thank you for hosting me with hese students today. And i thank you, students, for allowing me to be part of this conversation with you. You and hundreds of your peers across the campus we hope will continue the intellectual journey thats higher education. I loved my education experience so much and i suspect you do too. You will discover new areas of knowledge, you will engage in debate, great and small and many of the views you have will be challenged and some of your views may even change. You will if your institutions follow our nations historic and Cultural Education traditions, pursue truth while growing in mind and spirit. In short, we hope youll take part in the right of every american, free, robust, sometimes Contentious Exchange of ideas. As you exercise these rights, realize how precious, how rare, and how fragile they are. In most societies throughout history and in so many i have had an opportunity to visit as a member of the Armed Services committee to some of the most difficult places on the globe, such rights do not exist and these places openly criticizing in these places, openly criticizing the government or expressing unorthodox opinions could land you in jail or worse. Let me tell you about one example that occurred one autumn when a few idealistic University Students came together as a group to advocate for a felt political need, wanting to recruit others to their cause they staked out some ground on a campus walkway popular with students and approached them as they passed. They said things like, do you like freedom . Do you like liberty . And then they offered these passer bys a document that they revered and believed represented these ideals. The United States constitution. These young proselytizers for liberty did not block the walk way, did not disrupt surrounding activity, did not use intimidation or violence to further their cause. Nevertheless a Government Official labeled this behavior provocative and in violation of government policy and when the young people bravely refused to stop, citing their right to free speech, the local official had them arrested, havend cuffed and jailed. This troubling ince definite could have occurred on any number of tir under any number of tyrannies where the bedrock american ideals of freedom, thought, and speech have no foothold whatsoever but this incident happened right here in the United States. Just last year. At a Public College in battle creek, michigan. A state official actually had students jailed for handing out copies of the United States constitution. Freedom of thought and speech on american campus are under attack. The American University was once the center of academic freedom, a place of robust debate, a forum for the competition of ideas. But it is transforming into an echo chamber of Political Correctness and home generals you thought a shelter for fragile egos. In 2017, the foundation for individual rights in education surveyed 450 colleges and universities across the country and found that 40 maintained maintain speech codes that substantially infringe on constitutional protected speech. Of the Public Colleges surveyed which are bound by the First Amendment, fully one third had written policies banning disfared speech. For exampling disfavored speech. For example at Boise State University in idaho, the student code of conduct prohibits, quote, conduct that a reasonable person would find offensive, close quote. At clemson university, the student code of conduct bans any verbal or physical act that creates, quote, an offensive educational work or living environment. Close quote. But who decides . What is offensive and what is acceptable . The university is about the search for truth. Not the imposition of truth by a government censor. Speech and civility codes often violate what the late Justice Antonin Scalia called, quote, the first axiom of the First Amendment which is that, quote, as a general rule, the state has no power to ban speech on the basis of content. In this great land, the government does not tell you what to think or what to say. In addition to written speech now many colleges tolerate free speech only in certain geographically limited free speech zones. For example, a student recently filed suit against Pierce College in california, public school, alleging that it prohibited him from distributing Spanish Language copies of the United States constitution outside the psychologicals free speech zone. The size of the free speech zone . 616 square feet. Barely the size of two dorm rooms. These cramped zones are eerily familiar to what the Supreme Court warned against in a seminal 1969 case, a case about student speech. It said, quote, freedom of expression would not truly exist if the right to be could be exercised only in an area that a benevolent government has provided as a safe haven. Close quote. College administrations College Administrators have also silenced speech by permitting the hecklers veto to control who gets to speak and what messages are conveyed. In these instances, administrators discourage or prohibit speech if theres even a threat it will be met by protests. In other words, the school favors the hecklers disruptive tactics over the speakers First Amendment rights. These administrators seem to forget that as the Supreme Court put it in watson vs. City of memphis more than 50 years ago, quote, Constitutional Rights may not be denied simply because of hostility to the assertion of their exercise. This permissible attitude toward the hecklers veto spawned a Cottage Industry of protesters who have learned that School Administrators often will capitulate to their demands. Protesters are now routinely shut do you think speeches and debates across the country in an effort to silence voices that insufficiently conform to their views. A frightening example occurred at middlebury college. Student protesters violently shut down an a debate between an invited speaker and one of the schools own professors. As soon as the event began, protesters shouted for 20 minutes, preventing the debate from occurring. When the debaters then attempted to move to a private broadcasting location, the protesters, many wearing masks, a common tactic used by the detestable ku klux klan, pullle pulled fire alarm, sur rounded the speakers and began physically assaulting them. In short, students engaged in a violent riot to ensure that neither they nor their fellow students would hear speech they may have disagreed with. Indeed, the crackdown on speech races and religion. At brown university, a speech to promote transgender rights was canceled after student pross tested because a jewish group cosponsored the lecture. Virginia tech disinvited a speaker who had written on race issues and they worried about protests disrupting the event. This is not right. This is not the great tradition of america. Yet School Administrators have bent to this behavior. The effect is to coddle and encourage it. Just other a week ago, after the orwellian named antifascist protesters had successfully shut down numerous campus speaker events in recent months with violent riots, berkley was reportedly forced to spend 600,000 and have an overwhelming Police Presence to simply prove that the mob was not in control of their campus. The home of free speech. In advance, the school offered counseling , in advance, of this speech. They offered counseling to any student or faculty who whose sense of safety or belonging was threatened by a speech. From ben shapiro a 33yearold harvardtrained lawyer who has frequently been targeted by antisemites for his jewish faith and who vigorously condemns hate speech from the left or right. In the end, mr. Shapiro spoke to a packed house and to any knowledge, no one fainted, no unwith felt unsafe, and no one needed counsel, i hope. Yet after this small victory for free speech, a student speaking to a reporter said in reaction, i dont think berkley should host any controversial speakers on either side. That, perhaps, would be the worst lesson to draw from that episode, i firmly believe. I know that the vast majority of students like you, at the constitution center, need no lecture on the dangers of government imposed group think. But we have seen a rash of incidents, often perpetrated by small groups of those students and professors unable or unwilling to defend their own beliefs in the public forum. Unfortunately, these trends have been tolerated by administrators and shrugged off by other students. So let us directly address the question, why should we worry about free speech that may be in retreat on our universities . Of course, for publicly run the easy answer is upholding free speech rights is not an option. But an unshakeable requirement of the First Amendment. As swrussties Robert Jackson once explained, quote, if there is a fixed star in our constellation in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion. But even setting aside the law, the more fundamental issue is that the university is supposed to be a place where we train virtuous students. Its where the next generation of americans are equipped to contribute to and live in a diverse and free society filled with many, often contrary, voices. Our legal heritage, upon which the founders crafted the bill of rights, taught that reason and knowledge produced the closest approximateation of truth. And from truth may hopefully often may, hopefully often, arises justice. But reason requires discourse and frequently arget and that is why the free speech guarantee is found not just in the First Amendment but it permeates our institutions, our traditions, and our constitution in this ree, unique, exceptional land. A jury trial. The right to crossexamine witness. Speech and debate clause. The very art and practice of lawyering. All of these are rooted in the idea that speech, reason, and confrontation are the very bedrock of a good society. In fact, these practices are designed to ascertain what is the truth. And from that truth, good policy nd actions can be founded. Federalists against antifederalists. Abraham lincoln against stephens. Dr. Martin luther king against george wallace. Indeed, they was pow over dr. Kings words, his speech that crushed segregation and overcame the violence of the segregationists. He was unrelenting in making a clear, moral argument that in the end could not be denied. Words over violence. So many times in our history as a people, it was indeed speech and still more speech that led americans to a more just and perfect union. The right to freely examine the moral and immoral, the prudent and the foolish, the practical and the inefficient, and the right to argue for their merits or demerits, remain indispensable for a healthy republic. It has been known since the beginning of our nation, James Madison knew this when, as part of his protest against the alien and sedition act, the speech code of his day , he said that the freedom of speech is, quote, e only effectule guardian of every other right. And in a quote that im reminded of daily in this job, Thomas Jefferson knew this when he said in words now chiseled in his monument, quote, i swear upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against any form of tyranny over the mind of man. No little matter there. O soon you will be, perhaps, a professor, University President , attorney general of the United States, maybe president of the United States. And you will have your own pressing issues to grapple with. But i promise you that no issue will be better decided with less debate, with indifference from the audience, and with voices not listened to and unheard. There are those who will say that certain speech isnt deserving of protection. Theyll say that some speech is hurtful, even hateful. They will point to the very speech and belief that we jab hor as americans. That we abhor as americans. But the right to free speech does not exist only to protect the ideas upon which most of us agree at a given moment in time. As justice bran dice eloquently state brandeis eloquently stated in whitney vs. California, yet if there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacy to avert the evil by the process of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. And let me be clear. Protecting free speech does not mean condoning violence like we saw recently in charlottesville. Indeed, i call upon universities and all americans to stand up against those who would silence Free Expression by violence or other means. But a Mature Society can tell the difference between violence and unpopular speech and a truly free Society Stands up, speaks up, for cherished rights precisely when its most difficult to do so. As Justice Holmes once wrote, quote if there is any principal of the constitution that more imperatively calls for the attachment than any other,s the principal of free thought. Not free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought that we hate. For the thought that we hate. And we must do so on our campuses, University Officials and faculty must defend Free Expression boldly and unequivocally. That means president s, regents, trustees, alumni as well. A national recommitment to free speech on campus is long overdue and action to ensure First Amendment rights are overdue. Starting today, the department of justice will do its part in this work. We will enforce federal law. Defend free speech. And protect students Free Expression from whatever end of the spectrum it may come. To that end, we are filing a statement of interest in a campus free speech case in free speech case this week and we will be filing more, im sure, in the weeks to come this month we mark the 2 the 230th anniversary of our constitution. What a remarkable document indeed. The longest existing constitution in the world. And it is an extraordinary thing. This month, we also mark the 54th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in birmingham. Four little girls died that day as they changed into their choir robes because the klan wanted to silence their voices for civil rights. But their choices were not silenced. Dr. Martin luther king would call them the martyred heroins of a the martyred heroines of a crusade for freedom and dignity. I urge you, really, urge you, to go back and read that eulogy an consider what it had to say to each of us today. This is the true legacy and power of free speech that has been handed down to you. And you can be sure it made people uncomfortable when Martin Luther king spoke about segregation, particularly in the south. This is the heritage that you have been given and that you must protect. So im here today to ask you to be involved, to make your voices heard, to defend the rights of others to do the same. For the last 241 years, we have saved a country on the principle that are boust robust and even contentious debate is how we discover truth and resolve the nations most intractable problem. Your generation will decide if this experiment in freedom will continue, nothing less than the future of the republic depends on it. Thank you all, its great to be with you. [applause] thank you, mr. Attorney general, for those remarks this talk has atrabted considerable interest from the student body as well as my colleagues. We have questions that have been submitted by students in attendance today. Many of these questions are actually similar. They ask about the same question. I have to say the most popular question concerned, you may be is you may be surprised to hear this, the nfl. So heres one iteration of. Can you comment on the recent debate over nfl player protests . Does it concern you that these players are being condemned by many including the president , for exercising their constitutional right to free speech . Mr. Sessions the president has free speech rights too. He sends soldiers out every day to defend this country under the flag of the United States, under the National Anthem and the unity that those symbols call on us to adhere to. So i agree that its a big mistake to protest in that fashion. Because it weakens the commitment that we have to this nation that has provided thus freedom. I would note, of course, that the players arent subject to any prosecution, but if they take a provocative act they can expect to be condemned and the president has the right to condemn them and i would condemn their actions, not them as human beings, but i dont think that was a good in many way, these players with all the assets that they have, can express their political views other than in fect denigrating the symbols of our nation, a nation thats provided our freedom to speak and act. As a matter of fact, the next student question is a followup on what you just said. Let me read it. If the methods citizens have thus far employed to register displeasure with actions are unsuitable and divisive in the administrations eyes, what can citizens do to properly register their opinions. Mr. Sessions people have a right to register their opinions, to protest, criticize, in any number of ways. I guess its up to the owners and the people who create these games and pay for the ball fields too se deside what you can do on a ball field. Ut freedom of every individual player is paramount under the constitution. Its protected. And we have to protect it. I think that its not a contradiction there. How much does context matter here . Are those whose viewpoint in the minority in a particular community, such as a College Campus , in need of any special protection . Will that be a factor that the d. O. J. Will take into account when setting its policies . Who is in the majority and who is in the minority in the given, specific, community . Mr. Sessions all of us need to understand that people who have minority views should be respected. And should be listened to them. And but i dont think we really need to apply any special rights to a Minority Group. I think theres a danger, a greater danger that a Minority Group might be denied the right to speak, to express theyre views, somehow be suppressed. That should always be guarded against. But fundamentally, the constitution protecting everybodys speech. The majority and the minority. And thats, i think, the great tradition we have in this country. I think we should defend it and i have felt, we talk about it a lot with my staff, young people right out of college, super talented young people, and theres an unease that things are going on on campuses that make them very uncomfortable. At they feel not free or affirmed when they express views that might be contrary to the majority. But i dont think the constitution says you would treat one Group Different from another. Fundamentally, everyone has the base exright to express themselves. We got a speechrelated question from students. And that is, it says this. As an advocate of free speech, how do you feel about the use of senate rule 19 to limit speech on the senate floor during confirmation hearings as was done to senator warren when she was criticizing your nomination to be attorney general . Mr. Sessions she certainly had the right to criticize my nomination and i think she really had the right to read the letter but she was blocked, at least temporarily blocked from reading. The senate rule 19 says you back to 1902 s after a fist night broke out, it says you shouldnt personally disparage another senator. I was both a senator and a candidate. I think in general, the senate is one of the most open, debating forums in the history of the world. Robert byrd said there are two great senates and one of the them is the u. S. Senate. And people feel that. And we should be very cautious before we constrict any member of the senate from speaking on issues in a way they choose. You grew up in alabama, aurp college student. So did you have any experience as expressing minority opinions in your college . What college was this again . Mr. Sessions huntington college. Great place. Did you have any experience being the minority viewpoint in your College Campus . Mr. Sessions well, yeah. I think hunting tennessee is a little methodist, liberal arts college. There were no republicans back then. Somehow, somebody, an english teacher had prevailed on me to start reading the National Review and that had become what somewhat conservative in my thinking. But the establishment was the wallace machine, it dominated alabama. We started our little effort, first time theyd ever had a Republican Club on huntington colleges campus , my wife was member too. And so we battled, we campaigned, lost almost every time we campaigned, but and 9 11 law school, it wasnt not many republicans in the law school bunch, you can be sure. But times changed. Its amazing. Now virtually every statewide elected official in alabama is republican. So i have a sense i have a feel for what its like to stick in there for what you believe. And not kowtow to somebody who has a different view a majority view and they dont want to hear your view. Supreme a right to not have their mind dominated by, certainly by the government, and nobody else, really. Youre required, all of us are, to use our best judgment, to seek truth and try to do the right thing and full debate, normally clears the air, helps you make better decisions. Thats certainly one of the that certainly was the idea of the founders. I believe its still valid today. Could you tell us more about this initiative that the d. O. J. Is taking that you mentioned in your speech, youre filing a statement of interest in a case . Whats this case . Mr. Sessions its a case about a Christian Group that was attempting to express themselves in a way that any Group Promoting any agenda, political or religious, we believe, should have been allowed to do. Improperly, were think, constricted in that right. Constitution provides free speech, right to assemble, right to petition. It also provides the right to Free Expression of religion. A little additional right there that is important. So we think that this case came up promptly because its got a deadline. For us to file. We can file a statement of interest without being a party in the case. Its one of the unusual rights that the department of justice has. Federal government has. To file a statement, a brief, without being a party in a case, and we think appropriate to kind of affirm what the proper parameters of free speech are in this at this college in georgia. We know you have to be at another ep gaugement and we have to let you go but, maybe the last question can be about this particular event. As you know, there are many protesters, both in front of this building and in the hallway outside this hall, including members of our faculty, who are protesting. This event is being simulcast in a classroom thats outside this auditorium so that everybody else can come, who couldnt come in here, could hear it there. And im wondering if you have any message, since the words are going to convey outside this room, any message to the folks outside this room, any folks to the professors or state of the union whors protesting or just folks that couldnt be join us here in the auditorium today . Mr. Sessions first id like to thank you for the opportunity to be with you. I know this is a talented group indeed or you wouldnt be in this law school. We respect your views, no matter what they are. We will defend your views. And the right to express them in appropriate and effective ways. Certainly the great tradition that this country has founded on. We would call on our universities and administrators intellectually push back against some of the trends that were seeing today. By which some people seem to think they have a right to block somebody elses beliefs and the expression of those beliefs. I think its a fundamental thing. I think if we teach that, if we teach the very fundamental necessity of that, then fewer people will feel they can have legitimacy by blocking someone elses speech. Particularly on the College Campus my heavens sake, College Campus is br it should be the most. Youre forming your ideas. Youre thinking things through. It was such a fabulous time for me and i changed in a lot of different ways. Over that period of time. And im sure you will. So we celebrate the diversity of opinion. We celebrate your freedom to ask questions, to push back, to challenge what may be orthodoxy in many different areas. Thats part of americas heritage. And i got to tell you, the American Heritage of law and Public Policy and the way we approach it is very unique. Ive traveled the globe, ive been in afghanistan. We helped them right a constitution. But professor barnett, they had no heritage of it was written up here but it didnt their lives didnt impact that. So weve been blessed with a heritage that causes us to understand in a more deep way than most people in the world can why freedom is important, why debate is important, why free speech is important. So i would urge you to understand and think about the very uniqueness of this right that we have. To defend it, sfed fastly, against anyone that would dominate somebody in their thoughts and speech, and i believe well be a better and more healthy republic afterwards. Its an honor to be with you. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Attorney general. [applause] appreciate you coming. That was a great speech, really enjoyed it. Mr. Sessions thank you all. [applause] heres a look at our primetime schedule. Starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, Senate Republican leaders confirm to reporters the senate will not hold a vote on their health care proposal. On cspan2, a confirmation hearing for ma lean general Joseph Dunford on his nomination to serve a second term as chair of the joint chiefs of staff. And on cspan3, the House Foreign Affairs committee holds a hearing on restructuring the tate department. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up wednesday morning, the latest on house tax Reform Efforts with republican congressman dave bratt from virginia and House Foreign Affairs Committee Democratic congressman Gerald Connelly from virginia talks about the standoff with north korea over its nuclear program. Be sure to watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern, wednesday morning. Join the discussion. This weekend on American History tv on cspan3, saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, on lectures and history, university of virginia professor Gary Gallagher on the legacy of the civil war. The loyal white citizenry and africanamericans and former confederates have very different takes on the war as they went forward after appomattox. They embraced versions of the war that suited their purposes. And sunday at 10 00 a. M. , president bill clinton marking the 60th anniversary of the integration of little rock central high school. What i wanted to say, you did 60 years, take a victory lap, put on your dancing shoes, have a good time. , you tead i have to say got to put on your marching boots. And lead us again. Then at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on oral history, we continue our series on photo journalists with an interview with daryl hikiss. We were working with the white house, to have the maximum amount of film whenever something happens. Because somebody in a split second could be there and youve got it and the person standing next to you does or doesnt have it. At 9 00 p. M. Eastern, hamilton playwright and actor lin manuelmarnede miranda accepts the 2017 freedom award. When youre a theater kid you make friends from different grades and social groups. You learn to work hard, to create something greater than the sum of your parts and just for the sake of making something great. You learn to trust your position and passion and let it lead the way. Without humanities and arts programs i wouldnt be standing here. Without Alexander Hamilton and the countless other immigrants who built this country its probable that few of us would be here either. American history tv, our weekend, every
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