Professors JoAnn Koob and Donald Kochan Discuss Free Speech with Georgian Judges
Earlier this week, Scalia Law professors JoAnn Koob and Donald Kochan hosted a delegation of ten judges from the nation of Georgia. The judges are participating in an ABA program funded under the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Georgia Rule of Law Program. The program supports justice reforms that improve the independence, transparency, and accountability of justice institutions and actors. It also aims to improve Georgia’s legal education system. To help fulfill its goals, the program organizes visits to U.S. courts and law schools based on the interests of the participating Georgian judges. The theme of the program’s current U.S. tour is freedom of expression, with a focus on judges’ role both in protecting freedom of speech and exercising their own rights to expression.
The tour’s focus aligns well with the mission of the Liberty & Law Center, where Professor Koob serves as Center Director, and the atmosphere of mutual respect and diversity of viewpoints that Scalia Law seeks to foster. Additionally, the ABA program’s work with judges to equip them with the tools and knowledge they need to improve the systems they work in, dovetails nicely with the Law & Economics Center’s (LEC) extensive judicial education programs.
During the visit, Professor Koob discussed the Liberty & Law Center’s free speech work and the center’s Free Speech Clinic. The clinic provides robust, hands-on training for students seeking to become free speech advocates, making it particularly relevant to the visiting delegation. Professor Kochan, the LEC’s Executive Director, discussed the LEC’s work, focusing on the extensive set of programming they offer to judges.
After their presentations, Professors Koob and Kochan held a wide-ranging and open discussion with the Georgian judges. The discussion centered around U.S. free speech laws and jurisprudence and how those aligned with and differed from what the delegation experienced in Georgia. The conversation provided insights to everyone involved and Professor Kochan noted that, “it could have gone on for hours longer, only ending because a class needed the room.”