NIFLA v. Becerra: Can a State Regulate Professional Speech? [SCOTUSbrief]
Short video featuring Andrea Picciotti-Bayer and Megan Dewitt
Short video featuring Andrea Picciotti-Bayer and Megan Dewitt
Can a government compel commercial or professional speech when the speaker disagrees with the message? Andrea Picciotti-Bayer of the Catholic Association Foundation and Meggan Dewitt of the Cato Institute discuss an upcoming Supreme Court case on whether two provisions of the California Reproductive FACT Act violate free speech protections for crisis pregnancy centers.
Oral argument is March 20, 2018.
As always, the Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.
Learn more about Andrea Picciotti-Bayer:
https://thecatholicassociation.org/who-we-are/andrea-picciotti-bayer/
Learn more about Meggan DeWitt:
https://www.cato.org/people/meggan-dewitt
Legal Associate, Cato Institute
Meggan DeWitt is a legal associate in the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies. During law school, she clerked for the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Virginia, and for the Department of Forensic Sciences in Washington, D.C. and was a member of the Supreme Court Clinic, where she worked on research and drafting for Supreme Court amicus and merits briefs. Meggan holds a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, where she served as a Research Editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal and acted as Chief Justice for the law school’s moot court program. She holds a B.A. in political science and history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Director, The Conscience Project
Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is Director of the Conscience Project.
Andrea got her start as a trial and appellate attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to leading the Conscience Project, she served as the legal advisor for the Catholic Association, filing amicus briefs with federal courts of appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court in key religious freedom and free speech cases.
Andrea appears frequently in the media to discuss religious freedom controversies and legal victories, and in 2021 she received First Place for Best Coverage — Religious Liberty Issues from the Catholic Media Association. Andrea is a legal analyst for EWTN News and a regular columnist for the National Catholic Register. Her writing has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Fox News, Newsweek, CNN en Español and other well-regarded publications. She has also joined Fox News, Newsmax and a variety of other shows to share expert commentary.
Andrea lived in Colombia for more than a decade. She has ten children and lives in the Washington, DC area.