Floyd Abrams
Floyd Abrams
Floyd Abramsis an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He is an expert on constitutional law, and many arguments in the briefs he has written before the United States Supreme Court have been adopted as United States Constitutional interpretative law as it relates to the First Amendment and free speech. He is the William J. Brennan Jr. Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionLawyer
CountryUnited States of America
case interest particular
There are some circumstances in which the First Amendment interest comes up against another interest that is really important and in which we have to make a decision in a particular case as to which is more important.
absolute burden cases country gives high libel ought people
No other country in the world gives protection like that, but it is not absolute protection. People sometimes meet that high burden and win libel suits, and in those cases I think they ought to win.
answer behave best judges opponents straight whether
I really try at least to come back and answer the question as to whether that was really the best way to do that and was I really thinking straight and how did my opponents behave and how did the judges behave was needed.
defend preaching
I try to do that in this book without preaching - to try to do as you just said that you really have to defend the First Amendment rights of everybody.
amount cbs fewer good hear inevitable interviews mean people press public talks
I mean the idea of this is that it's a good thing for the public to hear interviews like this and that there will be an inevitable amount of fewer interviews if people that the press talks to wind up thinking, well, it's not really a CBS correspondent.
exaggerate facts judges lawyers major players role
It has something to do with the facts and the law and who the judges are. So I think lawyers sometimes exaggerate their role in winning and losing. Lawyers do have a role, and a major role, but they're not the only players in this game.
case dan happened
Here we have a situation where a defendant in a case agrees to an interview with Dan Rather. It happened to be not confidential. But it was an interview with Dan Rather.
asked miller provide recitation
On more than one occasion, Mr. Tate asked me for a recitation of what Ms. Miller would say. I did not provide one.
concerned jail reveal sources
She has other sources and was very concerned about the possibility of having to reveal those sources or going back to jail because of them.
choice continue position promise properly reason released unless
She is there (in jail) for a reason. At this time, the reason is still there. She made a promise and, unless properly released from her promise by her source, she has no choice but to continue to take the position that she's taking.
reporters word
Reporters should keep their word to their sources.
judy pressure putting release reluctant seem solved source
Judy was very reluctant to seem to be putting pressure on a source to release her to speak. And at the time, it would not have solved the other issue.
anyone clear face scholars-and-scholarship view
Judy's view is that any purported waiver she got from anyone was not on the face of it sufficiently broad, clear and uncoerced.
abandon al book case decision efforts sale
Fox's decision to abandon its efforts at interfering with the sale of Al Franken's new book is welcome, if overdue. The case never should have been brought.