Minors and the First Amendment: Replies to Marjorie Heins

Marjorie Heins has written an intelligent but predictable polemic in favor of “free expression” for those she variously calls “youngsters,” (this excludes “little ones” though how little we are not told), “older minors” and, of course, “teenagers” though her argument in favor of nigh-unlimited access to any and all materials through any and all media extends to the “youngster/older minor” category as well (“Rejuvenating Free Expression,” Dissent, Summer 1999). We know this is a polemic because those who oppose her views “fulminate” rather than argue, so I suppose what I am about to argue will be taken by Heins as yet another fulmination. Here goes anyway.

Heins scorns “paternalism” and “protec...