Ken White
Criminal defence and First Amendment lawyer in Los Angeles, a former federal prosecutor, and the author of The Popehat Report. Co-hosts the legal podcast Serious Trouble.
Ken White did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Our reading
Demanding simple answers to hard questions is itself a political harm, not just an intellectual one.
Their wordsThe stubborn thirst for simple answers to hard questions is bad for America.
↗Stop Demanding Dumb Answers To Hard Questionspopehat.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsIf you think the question “is calling for the genocide of a group against your policy” is an easy question with a one-word answer, you’re wrong.
↗Stop Demanding Dumb Answers To Hard Questionspopehat.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 2 weeks earlier
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Their wordsElon Musk’s sullen yawp amounts to a claim that he has a right for companies to sponsor his speech, no matter what he says. That’s nonsense, both legally and philosophically.
↗My Free Speech Means You Have To Shut Uppopehat.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their words“Your criticism violates my right to free speech” is a fatuous but common American sentiment.
↗My Free Speech Means You Have To Shut Uppopehat.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsIn my view, too many critics of “cancel culture” are recklessly promoting not the speech of the powerless, but the censorious resentment of the powerful.
↗My Free Speech Means You Have To Shut Uppopehat.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 4 months earlier
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Their wordsHere’s the point: there are legal and factual defenses to this indictment, but anyone telling you that it obviously, inarguably violates the law is lying to you.
↗People Are Lying To You About The Trump Indictmentpopehat.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsBe skeptical of absolute certainty not backed up with proof. Be skeptical of pronouncements that there’s only one way a court will ever possibly interpret something.
↗People Are Lying To You About The Trump Indictmentpopehat.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 5 weeks earlier
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Their wordsAs I’ve argued before, the so-called “objective standard” can be very difficult to administer in this big diverse messy country where we often don’t share a common sense of reality and there is no uniform “reasonable person.”
↗Supreme Court Clarifies "True Threats" First Amendment Exceptionpopehat.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsNow, finally, the Court has resolved the question: the First Amendment requires that, at a minimum, the government prove that a speaker was reckless about whether their statement would be interpreted as threatening.
↗Supreme Court Clarifies "True Threats" First Amendment Exceptionpopehat.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece