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VOOZH | about |
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VOOZH | about |
JD, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific
PhD, BA, communication, Stanford University
Scholars
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Studies
First Amendment law, Free speech controversies, Regulation of social media platforms, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
Clay Calvert is a nonresident senior fellow in technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a professor of law emeritus at the Levin College of Law and Brechner Eminent Scholar Emeritus at the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida.
Considered one of the foremost experts on First Amendment law, Dr. Calvert is often a source in writings about the First Amendment and freedom of expression.
Dr. Calvert has authored or coauthored more than 150 law journal articles on topics related to freedom of expression. He has published articles in journals affiliated with law schools including Harvard University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Virginia; the University of Pennsylvania; Columbia University; Duke University; and Georgetown University. In the popular press, his commentaries have appeared in CNN.com, Fortune, The Hill, Time, Newsweek, The New Republic, the Orlando Sentinel, The Conversation, and the Tampa Bay Times, among other outlets.
He is the lead author of a market-leading undergraduate media law textbook, Mass Media Law, 22nd ed. (2023), and the author of Voyeur Nation: Media, Privacy, and Peering in Modern Culture (2000).
Dr. Calvert received a law degree from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law and a PhD and BA in communication from Stanford University. He is a member of the State Bar of California and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
JD, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific
PhD, BA, communication, Stanford University
Report
Despite President Trump's promise to “bring back free speech to America,” his administration has expressly or allegedly engaged in five practices that involve a chilling effect on online expression.
BY Clay Calvert ON 1 Apr 26
Post
A recent federal appellate court decision involving hateful online, off-campus speech by a public university law student raises important questions about what legal test applies to determine whether the First Amendment protects such expression.
BY Clay Calvert ON 1 Apr 26
Post
Anthropic’s lawsuit against the US Department of War and myriad federal agencies and officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, may get a boost on its First Amendment retaliation claim from aspersion-casting social media posts by Hegseth and President Donald Trump.
BY Clay Calvert ON 24 Mar 26
Post
A federal judge in Hawaii recently blocked enforcement of an Aloha State statute that criminalizes certain deepfakes about candidates running for public office. The ruling in Babylon Bee v. Lopez offers important First Amendment lessons for lawmakers about the need to narrowly draft such measures and the importance of safeguarding political satire.
BY Clay Calvert ON 18 Mar 26
Post
Companion rulings by a federal judge in late December blocking enforcement of Texas’s App Store Accountability Act provide important First Amendment lessons to well-intentioned lawmakers about drafting legislation that ostensibly protects app-using minors on digital devices.
BY Clay Calvert ON 4 Mar 26
Press
Nonresident Senior Fellow Clay Calvert discusses the social media addiction lawsuit on TechFreedom’s ‘Tech Policy Podcast.’
BY Clay Calvert ON 26 Feb 26
Post
A recent federal appellate court decision involving hateful online, off-campus speech by a public university law student raises important questions about what legal test applies to determine whether the First Amendment protects such expression.
BY Clay Calvert ON 1 Apr 26
Post
Anthropic’s lawsuit against the US Department of War and myriad federal agencies and officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, may get a boost on its First Amendment retaliation claim from aspersion-casting social media posts by Hegseth and President Donald Trump.
BY Clay Calvert ON 24 Mar 26
Post
A federal judge in Hawaii recently blocked enforcement of an Aloha State statute that criminalizes certain deepfakes about candidates running for public office. The ruling in Babylon Bee v. Lopez offers important First Amendment lessons for lawmakers about the need to narrowly draft such measures and the importance of safeguarding political satire.
BY Clay Calvert ON 18 Mar 26
Post
Companion rulings by a federal judge in late December blocking enforcement of Texas’s App Store Accountability Act provide important First Amendment lessons to well-intentioned lawmakers about drafting legislation that ostensibly protects app-using minors on digital devices.
BY Clay Calvert ON 4 Mar 26
Post
Two recent federal court opinions blocking the enforcement of laws targeting social media platforms illustrate that lawmakers who do too little––who don’t do enough––to address a purported speech-caused problem may find their statutes are fatally underinclusive.
BY Clay Calvert ON 25 Feb 26
Post
Prospective settlements in several lawsuits blaming conversational chatbots for causing minors to kill themselves aren’t likely to stop related claims from proceeding, with multiple forces driving litigation and settlements failing to resolve key issues.
BY Clay Calvert ON 17 Feb 26
Report
Despite President Trump's promise to “bring back free speech to America,” his administration has expressly or allegedly engaged in five practices that involve a chilling effect on online expression.
BY Clay Calvert ON 1 Apr 26
Report
American Enterprise Institute
The FTC’s use of antitrust law—real or threatened—to change platforms’ content-moderation decisions confronts important First Amendment principles about editorial discretion, compelled speech, manipulation of idea marketplaces, and jawboning.
BY Clay Calvert ON 15 Oct 25
Report
American Enterprise Institute
The potential benefits of deploying large language models, from their low-cost, easy-to-use accessibility to their context sensitivity about the meaning of two-word phrases, cannot be ignored. In the spirit of Chief Justice John Roberts’s suggestion that “any use of AI requires caution and humility,” we should continue experiments with large language models in ordinary-meaning endeavors today with a hopeful yet realistic sense of eyes-wide-open optimism.
BY Clay Calvert ON 16 Jun 25
Event
The panel will explore the use and meaning of the FCC’s public interest mandate, its news distortion and hoax policies, and its investigatory, jawboning, and eyebrow-raising efforts to police speech on over-the-air broadcast airwaves. Panelists will discuss how this affects broadcasters’ First Amendment rights of free expression and might influence media mergers.
BY Shane Tews + Clay Calvert + Daniel Lyons ON 30 Sep 25
Event
Experts will examine the Supreme Court's decision in "Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton" and other issues affecting online expression, regulation, and tech policy, including the Court’s "TikTok v. Garland" ruling and a potential jawboning case.
BY Clay Calvert + Daniel Lyons + Shane Tews ON 9 Jun 25
Event
Where’s the line between government persuasion and coercion on online platforms? AEI’s Shane Tews and Clay Calvert will unpack the Murthy v. Missouri case’s impact with a panel of free speech experts.
BY Clay Calvert + Shane Tews ON 5 Sep 24
Event
Event Summary On July 23, AEI hosted a two-panel event examining the contentious online speech landscape following a consequential Supreme Court term. The first panel was moderated by AEI’s Clay Calvert. Panelists Jeff Hermes of...
BY Clay Calvert + Daniel Lyons + Shane Tews ON 9 Jul 24
Event
Event Summary On October 24, AEI’s Shane Tews hosted an expert panel discussion on manipulated media content hosted on social media platforms. John Samples of Meta’s Oversight Board kicked off the panel by explaining the...
BY Shane Tews + Clay Calvert ON 16 Oct 23
