On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed the First Amendment to the Constitution. As the nation’s largest organization dedicated solely to protecting political speech, press, assembly, and petition rights, we are happy to see this touchstone of democracy commemorated by recognizing September 25 as First Amendment Day.

This First Amendment Day, Seattle University Law Review published an important article from Institute for Free Speech Research Director Helen Knowles-Gardner. Titled, “The First Amendment to the Constitution, Associational Freedom, and the Future of the Country: Alabama’s Direct Attack on the Existence of the NAACP,” the article challenges the assertion that the 1958 decision in NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson was an indirect effort to control the NAACP.

From the abstract:

With the benefit of material obtained from numerous archival sources, this Article argues that Kalven’s categorization of Patterson (and the three other rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States that it ultimately took to ensure Alabama’s compliance with the 1958 decision) was mistaken. Instead, the litigation was designed and intended to put the NAACP out of business (which, in Alabama, it did for eight years).

Knowles-Gardner’s piece is the lead article in the issue. U.S. News & World Report has consistently recognized Seattle University School of Law as having the top legal writing program in the nation, and the most recent report has again ranked the school’s program in the top ten.

This is the first of two articles authored by Knowles-Gardner about the NAACP litigation. The Journal of Supreme Court History is publishing another installment of her NAACP research in November.