For Immediate Release
August 22, 2007

Contact:
Kara Tershel, (202) 662-9500

Professor Louis Michael Seidman

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Why do we value silence? What is the link between silence and freedom? And why is it so important that we protect this basic human right?

Georgetown University Law Center Professor Louis Michael Seidman poses these questions and others in his new book, "Silence and Freedom" (Stanford University Press, 2007).

Seidman argues that silence, which he describes as the strangest of constitutional rights, can be an expression of freedom rather than an admission of alienation. He maintains that silence can transcend the limitations of human speech. A contemplative silence can produce understanding, acceptance and wisdom, while a defiant silence can demonstrate determination, courage and will.

Seidman contends that silence must be protected in a world surrounded by noise and defends it in a variety of contexts, including apology, self-incrimination, interrogation, torture and death. He writes, "Silence is important to our freedom because we need to think in quiet before we decide what to say. It is important because we can only hear others when we are silent ourselves."

"Michael Seidman is one of the nation’s most creative and challenging thinkers about constitutional law. He has an uncanny ability to make you think twice, and then again, about the meaning of our deepest national commitments," noted Georgetown Law Professor David Cole. "In this elegant volume, he gives voice to the many ways in which the right to silence and its opposite – the duty to speak – reflect the paradoxes of our constitutional tradition. You will never hear the Miranda warning in the same way again."

"Seidman offers a creative, unconventional, and at times quite brilliant meditation on the various issues clustered around the notion of silence," said University of Chicago Law School Professor David A. Strauss. "He identifies problems associated with the right to silence, shows why they exist, and demonstrates how difficult they will be to overcome. This book is by turns engaging, intriguing, and often dazzling."

Seidman is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown Law, where he teaches courses in constitutional and criminal law. He was the James Monroe Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and New York University School of Law.

Prior to coming to Georgetown, Seidman served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and as a staff attorney with the D.C. Public Defender Service. He is the co-author of a constitutional law casebook and the author of several articles concerning criminal justice and constitutional law. His most recent books are "Our Unsettled Constitution: A New Defense of Constitutionalism and Judicial Review" (Yale, 2001) and "Equal Protection of the Laws" (Foundation, 2002).

About Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center is one of the world's premier law schools. It has the largest full-time faculty in the nation and is pre-eminent in several areas, including constitutional, international, tax and clinical law. Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, it has a strong tradition of public service and is dedicated to the principle that law is but a means, justice is the end. With this principle in mind, Georgetown Law has built an environment that cultivates an exchange of ideas and the pursuit of academic excellence. It brings together an extraordinarily varied group of teachers, scholars and practitioners, as well as an outstanding student body representing more than 60 countries.

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