Thomas C. Goldstein (1970– ), was a leading Supreme Court litigator who argued more than 15 cases before the high court, including some First Amendment case.
He retired in 2023 from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, in Washington, D.C., where he was co-head of the firm’s Supreme Court practice. He also has served as adjunct faculty member at Stanford Law School.
Goldstein created popular SCOTUS blog that covers Supreme Court
Born in Princeton, New Jersey, Goldstein earned an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina in 1992 and a law degree from American University in 1995. After clerking for Judge Patricia Wald of the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, he worked for two law firms before founding his own, Goldstein & Howe, with his wife, Amy Howe, in 1999.
While at Goldstein & Howe, he created a popular blog on the Supreme Court, SCOTUS blog, where he continues to write about the court.
Goldstein argued First Amendment cases
Goldstein delivered oral arguments in Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Co. (1999) and Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001). United Reporting involved a California law limiting access to arrest records. Bartnicki v. Vopper concerned a clash between privacy interests and First Amendment rights involving the publication of a cell phone conversation illegally intercepted by an unknown third party.
He participated in two other First Amendment decisions: Nike v. Kasky (2003), a commercial speech decision, and Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association (2005), which examined the application of the government speech doctrine.
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.