Beyond the Burning Cross: A Landmark Case of Race, Censorship, and the First Amendment

by Edward J. Cleary

Does our abhorrence of racism allow us to ban certain forms of speech? This is the simple yet subversive question that Edward J. Cleary posed to the U.S. Supreme Court when, in 1991, he defended a white student who had burned a cross on a black family's lawn in St. Paul, Minnesota, violating a local ordinance against hate crimes. As a progressive, Cleary detested everything his client stood for. But in this compelling argued book he describes how he overturned the St. Paul ordinance—and convinced the Court to rule that "burning a cross is reprehensible. But St. Paul has sufficient means . . . to prevent such behavior without adding the First Amendment to the fire."

As Cleary retraces his path from St. Paul to the courtroom in Washington, he juxtaposes the stories of previous First Amendment cases with a personal account of the unlikely alliances (with both the A.C.L.U. and a group engaged in defending the Ku Klux Klan) and antagonisms that grew out of the case. Ultimately, he shows us why a law that bans expressions of racism is as dangerous as a law that bans protests against those expressions. In  Beyond the Burning Cross , Leary has given us an unparalleled insider's report of a watershed event in constitutional history that is as absorbing as any thriller.

Genres: Law, History

314 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 1994

Reviews

[Olivia Blackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eye opening and perspective shifting read re: the 1st Amendment, especially (for me) when it comes to campus speech codes. I really just wanted to learn about his experience and could have done without the chapters rehashing the history of 1A jurisprudence

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a real eye-opener for me. Before reading it, I had no idea of how many times I have thought in terms of limiting freedom of speech--always for a noble cause, of course. In the corporate world, restrictions on freedom of expression are extremely common in an effort to guard against creating a hostile environment. Wow--powerful message.

[Marissa]

Excellent resource for First Amendment cases. Definitely gets you thinking in a different way and opens you up to how complex an issue free speech and discrimination truly are