The “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook” Author vs. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1988-2018 “Swing Voter” Anthony M. Kennedy

[johnkarls]

.

I propose that we discuss several recent events in relation to each other--

(A) Antifa Handbook author and Antifa financial supporter Mark Bray abandoning his Rutgers U Assistant Professorship last Thursday 10/9/2025 and fleeing to Spain;

(B) U.S. President Executive Order of 9/22/2025 designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization (text of the E.O. available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential ... anization/), and

(C) Publication on 10/14/2025 of “Life, Law & Liberty: A Memoir” by U.S. Supreme Court 1988-2018 Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who was known as the “swing voter” who produced a majority for, sometimes, the liberal wing of the court and, other times, the conservative wing.

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As expected, much of academia raised “the hue and cry” of “freedom of speech” and “academic freedom” such as the Rutgers U statement issued in the wake of Mark Bray’s departure --

“Rutgers University is committed to providing a secure environment — to learn, teach, work, and research, where all members of our community can share their opinions without fear of intimidation or harassment. Rutgers is committed to upholding the rights of students and faculty to free speech and academic freedom as fundamental to our community.”

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Bray’s Antifa Handbook was published 8/14/2017 when he was still a Lecturer at Dartmouth College.

He and his Handbook were immediately denounced by the President of Dartmouth (ref. https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2017/08 ... -mark-bray), resulting in Bray’s departure for Rutgers –

Statement on Lecturer in History Mark Bray

8/21/2017

“Recent statements made by Lecturer in History Mark Bray supporting violent protest do not represent the views of Dartmouth. As an institution, we condemn anything but civil discourse in the exchange of opinions and ideas. Dartmouth embraces free speech and open inquiry in all matters, and all on our campus enjoy the freedom to speak, write, listen, and debate in pursuit of better learning and understanding; however, the endorsement of violence in any form is contrary to Dartmouth values.”

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When I was a law student (JD, Harvard Law School, 1967 – Who’s Who in American Law, 1988-2003 – Who’s Who in America, 1988-2003 – Who’s Who in the World, 1994-2003) one of the first things you learn is that FREEDOM OF SPEECH DOES NOT INCLUDE THE RIGHT TO FALSELY SHOUT “FIRE” IN A CROWDED THEATER.

And then you study zillions of other limitations on “freedom of speech” such as defamation and such as incitement to riot!!!

So as soon as the Mark Bray story hit the news, I ordered from Amazon both Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s Memoir and Bray’s Antifa Handbook.

The Memoir arrived today but the Antifa Handbook apparently requires a new printing because Amazon advised it wouldn’t be available until November 1-11 (apparently because the publisher hasn’t informed Amazon how many copies it will now need to print).

However, Justice Kennedy’s Memoir didn’t disappoint, with Chapters on --

Chap. 24 – Freedom of Speech, and
Chap. 25 – Political Speech --

as the first 2 chapters of 10 on legal subjects.

I have not read them yet, but we can certainly supplement them with other “freedom of speech” Supreme Court opinions in order to evaluate the claims of academia in support of Bray.

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The traditional Book Proposal sections --

Book Description per Amazon.com (usually from the book’s dust cover),
Author Bio per Amazon.com, and
Book Review Excerpts per Amazon.com --

can be obtained from Amazon.com for both the Memoir and the Handbook.