With many issues--from wearing masks, to posting on social media and even using racial slurs in the workplace--people claim their rights are protected by the First Amendment. Sometimes there is no First Amendment protection, sometimes there is protection but from another source in the Constitution or elsewhere in the law, and sometimes the answer lies somewhere in between. On this episode Professor and First Amendment expert Shaakirrah Sanders will join us to discuss the misconceptions about the First Amendment, and to explain exactly what it means to have protected speech. We will discuss the importance of the First Amendment to the Nation’s founding, the incorporation of the First Amendment to apply against state governments, not only the federal government, the historical role of the First Amendment in criminal law and procedure, the First Amendment and social justice movements, and how the First Amendment impacts issues today including corporate personhood, cancel culture, and Critical Race Theory bans.