Law stories: Teaching the First Amendment

Stephanie Caparelli is Assistant Professor of Politics and Chair of Legal Studies at Lake Forest College.  Her program will be: “Law stories: Teaching the First Amendment with seminal actors in free speech and free exercise jurisprudence."

Teaching First Amendment law in today’s political climate presents its challenges - especially as culture wars rage on around what constitutes hate speech, offensive language, the bounds of propriety in public discourse, and to what extent religious beliefs and practice are granted exemption from compliance with public policy mandates. Professor Caparelli brings to her classes the advocates and litigants in some of the most important First Amendment cases to narrate the stories and legal strategies surrounding cases to which they have argued and lent their names. She discusses how allowing her students the opportunity to engage with the voices of these cases makes it easier for her students to process and understand both sides of the challenging legal arguments in cases that have forever changed our First Amendment landscape. 

Professor Caparelli is a lawyer and former public defender who teaches courses in American public law at Lake Forest College. Her teaching interests include trial advocacy, First and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, wrongful convictions, and reproductive justice. She is a graduate of Lake Forest College and the Chicago-Kent College of Law.