First Amendment Law Review Symposium
RETALIATION, COERCION, AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Date: Friday, November 6, 2026
Time: 8:00 am – 3:30 pm
Location: Rizzo Center located at 150 Dubose Home Lane, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27517
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The First Amendment Law Review at the University of North Carolina School of Law is pleased to present its 2026 Volume 25 symposium topic, The Rise of First Amendment Retaliation. Our annual symposium will bring together leading scholars and practitioners to examine the expanding role of First Amendment retaliation doctrine across constitutional law.
As retaliation claims have become an increasingly prominent tool for challenging government overreach, this year’s symposium will explore a range of interconnected questions: how plaintiffs prove retaliatory intent when the government controls the evidence; how the unconstitutional conditions doctrine applies when the federal government uses funding and contracts as leverage against law firms, universities, and other institutions; and how courts should respond to chilling effects and institutional capitulation in the face of executive pressure.
We are excited to welcome the following panelists to this year’s event:
Scott Wilkens – Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
Sonja West – University of Georgia School of Law
Timothy Zick – William & Mary Law School
Amy Moore – Belmont University College of Law
Helen Norton – University of Colorado School of Law
Mary-Rose Papandrea – George Washington University Law School
Genevieve Lakier – University of Chicago Law School
Evelyn Douek – Stanford Law School
Lyrissa Lidsky – University of Florida Levin College of Law
David King – Tennessee Law Group
Nick Gamse – Williams & Connolly LLP
Jacob Schriner-Briggs – Cleveland State University
Our keynote address will be provided by Professor David Cole, the Honorable George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center.
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Meet the Volume 25 Symposium Editor
Emma Nicole Curlee
UNC School of Law, Class of 2027
Hear from our Symposium Editor about this year’s topic of discussion:
“I am most excited about the timeliness of our topic. The First Amendment Retaliation Doctrine has never felt more urgent. We are watching in real time as our institutions navigate unprecedented governmental pressure, and the legal tools available to challenge that pressure are being tested in ways they never have been before. Bringing together scholars and practitioners who are at the forefront of that conversation is something I am incredibly proud of.”
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