Lata Nott
October 30th, 2017

Lata Nott is the Executive Director of the Newseum’s First Amendment Center. At the Newseum, a museum dedicated the history of media and free expression, her role is to educate the public about the the first amendment and related issues. She comes to the project with a background as a lawyer: she graduated Columbia Law School and worked at major New York law firms, as well as at Georgetown University Law Center.

In this episode we discuss subjects such as government leaks, the first amendment as it applies to the internet, protecting speech that we don’t like and the recent Matal v. Tam Supreme Court case, regarding the right of an Asian-American band to reclaim a slur by calling themselves The Slants. As it happens, Ms. Nott spoke to Simon Tam shortly before we met with her. You can find that discussion on her podcast, The First Five, which we recommend.

Issue Background

Ms. Nott’s writing

A First Amendment report card, issued by the First Amendment Center.
Ms. Nott, concerning the leaks coming from within the Trump administration and the Freedom of Information Act.

Reading from elsewhere

A New York Times editorial on Matal v. Tam.
This Politifact article assesses the claim that the Obama administration used the espionage act to go after leakers more than all other administrations combined.

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