News Release

December 7, 2004

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Can You Say That?
Cato Institute Book Argues That Antidiscrimination Laws Threaten Civil Liberties

Should the government punish you for telling a racy joke at work? Can an overweight girl demand the "right" to be a ballerina? Should speech on college campuses be censored in the name of political correctness? In a book from the Cato Institute, You Can't Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws, now available in paperback, law professor David E. Bernstein argues that a host of antidiscrimination laws threaten our basic civil liberties.

In a misguided attempt to rid our society of every vestige of "discrimination," activists, government officials, and judges are applying civil rights laws in ways that erode free speech on campus and in the workplace, the rights of local community leaders to speak out against government policies, the rights of private associations such as the Boy Scouts to determine their membership policies, and even the rights of individuals to choose their roommates.

Citing scores of examples, from freedom of speech to artistic expression to religion, You Can't Say That! reveals the profound threat to civil liberties posed by antidiscrimination laws.

Aout the Author
David E. Bernstein is professor of law at George Mason University and the author of Only One Place of Redress: African-Americans, Labor Regulations, and the Courts from Reconstruction to the New Deal. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

You Can't Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws
by David E. Bernstein
$20.00 cloth, ISBN 1-930865-53-8 (October 2003)
$12.95 paper, ISBN 1-930865-60-0 (November 2004) -- Now available in paperback!