GW Law Professor Mary Anne Franks has been selected as a spring 2026 fellow with the University of Chicago’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression.
Professor Franks, the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law, is an internationally recognized expert on the intersection of civil rights, free speech, and technology. As a fellow, she will explore the tensions between free expression and harm and connect directly with University of Chicago students through office hours and campus conversations. The Chicago Forum promotes the understanding, practice, and advancement of free and open discourse at the University of Chicago and beyond.
Professor Franks, who taught at the University of Chicago Law School as a Bigelow Fellow early in her career, says she is looking forward to returning to the institution that helped shape her scholarly trajectory.
“The U of C provided such an intellectually vibrant and challenging community for me when I was starting out as a legal academic,” she said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to return there as a Fellow for the Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, especially at a time when authoritarian attacks are gravely endangering academic freedom and freedom of expression in the United States.”
Professor Franks’ scholarship has had a global impact. She has written two books, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment and The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech. Her scholarship has also been published in numerous law journals, including the Harvard Law Review, the California Law Review, and the UCLA Law Review.
Earlier this year, she received the NAACP’s Archwell Digital Civil Rights Award, which was presented in partnership with Archwell Philanthropies, home to the charitable work of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
“This year’s recipient is someone whose work I find genuinely inspiring,” Prince Harry said of Professor Franks in a video announcement of the award, describing her as a “groundbreaking legal scholar.”
Professor Franks will participate in three convenings as part of the fellowship: “When Values Collide: Free Expression Harm and the Future of Open Inquiry” on May 14, “The Perils of ‘Free Speech Culture’” on May 19, and a “Fellow Meet & Greet with Mary Anne Franks” on May 20.
