Sonja R. West, ’98: Constitutional Scholar on Press Freedom and Its Future
Constitutional scholar Sonja R. West, JD’98, on press freedom and its future
Before law school, Sonja R. West, JD’98, spent a few years as a reporter in Illinois, Iowa, and Washington, DC. “I got to see some legal issues come up at newspapers where I worked, and I was always really fascinated by them,” she says. “The idea formed in my head that rather than doing the reporting, I might like defending the reporters.”
West is now the Otis Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law at the University of Georgia, where she specializes in constitutional law, media law, and the US Supreme Court. In her academic work, she has argued for better protection for high school journalists and autobiographical writers, and for greater transparency at the Supreme Court. In addition to her publications in law journals, West writes regularly for Slate and the Huffington Post.
Read more at Chicago Magazine