Professor Timothy Zick on Importance of Freedom of Assembly to Democratic Processes
Professor Timothy Zick, the Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Professor of Law, was among prominent experts quoted in a press release today announcing the launch of the Article 20 Network, a human rights organization based in New York “formed to defend and advance the right to Freedom of Assembly worldwide.” According to the release, the network's name refers to Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which secures the human right to peaceful assembly.
“In recent years, the United States has experienced the proliferation of free speech zones, the militarization of protest policing, and other challenges to public dissent,” said Zick in the release. “Now more than ever, the Article 20 Network’s mission of preserving and protecting freedom of assembly is vitally important to our democratic processes.”
The release also quoted Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Professor John D. Inazu of Washington University in St. Louis.
Zick has written on a wide variety of constitutional issues, with a special focus on issues of free speech and federalism. His first book, Speech Out of Doors: Preserving First Amendment Liberties in Public Places (Cambridge University Press 2009), examined the dynamic intersection of place and the First Amendment. His second book, The Cosmopolitan First Amendment: Protecting Transborder Expressive and Religious Liberties (Cambridge University Press 2013), explored the First Amendment's relationship with international borders.
He has been a frequent commentator in local, national, and international media regarding public protests and other First Amendment concerns. He testified before Congress on the Occupy Wall Street protests and rights of free speech, assembly, and petition.
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