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Written by David L. Hudson Jr., published on January 1, 2009 , last updated on February 18, 2024

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The Free Expression Network (FEN) is an alliance of organizations seeking to protect “the First Amendment right of free expression and the values it represents” and to oppose “governmental efforts to suppress constitutionally protected speech.”

FEN meets quarterly to discuss First Amendment concerns and censorship

Launched in the early 1990s, the group has advocated against the Communications Decency Act, music censorship, and government secrecy.

FEN members meet four times a year to discuss pressing First Amendment concerns and strategies for battling censorship.

FEN members can access First Amendment experts for discussion

Led by the National Coalition Against Censorship, other member organizations are the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, First Amendment Project, Media Law Resource Center, Student Press Law Center, and Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

FEN members have access to a discussion list that features many leading First Amendment experts on a variety of free expression and censorship-related topics.

David L. Hudson, Jr. is a law professor at Belmont who publishes widely on First Amendment topics.  He is the author of a 12-lecture audio course on the First Amendment entitled Freedom of Speech: Understanding the First Amendment (Now You Know Media, 2018).  He also is the author of many First Amendment books, including The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech (Thomson Reuters, 2012) and Freedom of Speech: Documents Decoded (ABC-CLIO, 2017). This article was originally published in 2009.​

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