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(soft music)

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- The spirit of the 
First Amendment,

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as well as its letter, must 
permit this exhibition to go on

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and this museum not to 
be punished for doing so.

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(upbeat music)

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- Floyd Abrams is almost 
First Amendment embodiment.

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When he takes a principled 
position on behalf of the press

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or a publisher of a book, he's 
taking a position on behalf

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of all of us who need to 
know what's in that book.

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- The system 
protects free speech,

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more broadly rather 
than narrowly.

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- Floyd was a legal rockstar.

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His greatest contributions 
were making sure the

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press couldn't be stopped 
from publishing the truth

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and couldn't be punished 
for publishing the truth.

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Those things were 
not well established

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before Floyd Abrams 
hit the scene.

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- Floyd was my lawyer 
in a time of great trial

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and tribulation.

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I am not going to 
reveal my source

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and if that means I 
have to go to prison

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then I have to go to prison.

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- They did work hard and 
on weekends sometimes

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we went with them to the office.

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- We didn't have 
fairytales at my house.

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We had cases.

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- And they were 
suspenseful and moralistic

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and the law seemed noble 
and the lawyers were heroes.

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- It's about being willing 
to say, people I don't like,

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people I don't agree with, 
have a right to speak.

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He believed in the 
legal argument.

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- His legacy is tied

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to the First Amendment 
that we have today.

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Whether he deserves credit 
for that or blame for that,

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I think is an 
important question.

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- Technology often seems to 
be setting the pace rather

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than the law.

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- When social media started, 
First Amendment types

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couldn't have imagined speech 
which doesn't cost anything

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and an ability for anyone 
to participate in it.

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Racist speech, 
Russian propaganda,

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false speech about medicine.

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Careful what you wish for

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and careful even 
what you imagine.

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- There are even broader 
questions about whether

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or not we can have privacy 
and free speech too.

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- The more we make it 
difficult to express dissenting

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or controversial views, 
the less we can move.

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The less we can change, the 
less we can even understand.

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We have to lean very strongly

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in the direction 
of free expression.

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Whatever the future 
may bring us.

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- If there were the 
history of defense

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of the First Amendment,

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there probably wouldn't be a 
chapter about Floyd Abrams.

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It would be part one.

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(upbeat music)