Center for Media at Risk Creators & Guests

Dr. Mary Anne Franks is a legal scholar, author, activist, and media commentator. Currently, she is a Professor of Law and Chair at the University of Miami School of Law, where she teaches First Amendment law, Second Amendment law, criminal law, criminal procedure, family law, and law and technology. Her work focuses on online harassment, free speech, discrimination, and violence. She also serves as President and Legislative and Technology Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.Franks's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Guardian, and she has been a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. She has appeared on CNN, the Today show, and Vice News.Franks is a co-producer of the documentary film, "Hot Girls Wanted," which was released in 2015. Her first book, "The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech," which won a gold medal at the 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards as well as the 2020 Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for Legal Studies and Excellence in Social Sciences. Her second book, "Fearless Speech," was published in 2023.Franks received her B.A. in Philosophy and English Literature from Loyola University New Orleans, her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Foreign Languages and Literatures from University of Oxford, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.