Little Rock notebook
Ex-Trump counsel will visit LR today
A former associate White House counsel for President Donald Trump will speak in Little Rock today.
Jim Schultz, a lawyer and political pundit, worked at the White House until November. Before that he was part of the legal team at the 2016 Republican National Convention and the Trump transition team.
He will speak about “President Trump and the Courts” at 6 p.m. Monday at Sturgis Hall, 1200 President Clinton Ave.
Schultz previously served as general counsel to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and as a top aide to U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., when Meehan was a U.S. attorney.
At the White House, Schultz provided counsel on matters involving government contracting, procurement, trade, transportation and infrastructure. He played a role in drafting and reviewing executive orders and was involved in the selection process for U.S. attorneys and federal district and circuit court judges.
During the 2016 campaign, he was a frequent contributor on Philadelphia’s NBC station. He now serves as a contributor to CNN.
Hate-speech laws subject of lecture
A lecture on hate speech is planned Wednesday at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.
Nadine Strossen will talk
about her book, Hate: Why We Should Resist it with Free Speech, Not Censorship, at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Sturgis Hall, 1200 President Clinton Ave. A book signing will follow.
The book aims to “dispel misunderstandings plaguing our perennial debates about hate speech vs. free speech, showing that the First Amendment approach promotes free speech and democracy, equality, and societal harmony,” according to a news release.
The book comes to the conclusion that hate-speech laws are ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst.
“Their inevitably vague terms invest enforcing officials with broad discretion, and predictably, regular targets are minority views and speakers,” the news release says.
Strossen is a professor of constitutional law at New York Law School. She was the first female president of the American Civil Liberties Union, serving from 1991 through 2008.