Short Circuit

June 4, 2023 marks exactly 100 years since the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Meyer v. Nebraska, where the Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for states to forbid the teaching of foreign languages. The case was a momentous decision both at the time and for the future. It lead to developments in many different areas of constitutional law, including free speech, religion, educational freedom, economic liberty, and the incorporation of the Bill of Rights. To celebrate the anniversary the Center for Judicial Engagement at the Institute for Justice held a conference on March 31, 2023 called “100 Years of Unenumerated Freedoms: Meyer v. Nebraska at a Century”. This episode of Short Circuit provides you with the keynote address from the conference, a speech by Professor William G. Ross of Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law. Professor Ross is the author of Forging New Freedoms: Nativism, Education and the Constitution, 1917-1927 (1994), the definitive account of Meyer and the other cases