And Of Our Right to Not Associate?

The First Amendment is not enough, nor is the original assumption that states should be sovereign.

TAC Bookshelf: TAC Bookshelf: Defending Our Constitutional Right to Associate

Bradley J. Birzer, TAC fellow-at-large: Our fundamental right to associate with whom we please—in our families, in our churches, in our schools, in our businesses, and in our fraternal orders—is under assault. That’s the argument made by Luke C. Sheahan in his excellent new book, Why Associations Matter: The Case for First Amendment Pluralism (University Press of Kansas, 2020).

The courts have progressively diminished just the idea of associating, even though they once espoused the “right to petition” and the “right to assemble” in the First Amendment as essential to a proper understanding of the Constitution. Sadly, recent court decisions have looked at the right to assemble merely as connected to free speech, thus only allowing association when the goal is to express some idea. Drawing on, fascinatingly, 19th-century political thought, as well as the work of Robert Nisbet, Sheahan properly re-orients the discussion in the present day, asking all the right questions and finding rather brilliant solutions. Why Associations Matter is a must-read and a must-own. If we lose the right to associate—beyond just expression—we lose our profound American identity.

University Press of Kansas: Why Associations Matter: The Case for First Amendment Pluralism
University Press of Kansas Blog: Luke C. Sheahan discusses “Why Associations Matter; The Case for First Amendment Pluralism”

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