Constitutional Law expert Floyd Abrams’ new book is “Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines With the First Amendment.”
Abrams: “Whether Nazi speech or racist speech, whether signs outside churches defaming soldiers or homosexuals, ours is a First Amendment Court. Nowhere else is speech protected.
“Stomp on small creatures with high heels, killing animals is a crime. Filming them isn’t. Not a crime. That’s protected.
“Today’s kids don’t know about our background. There’s slippage in our country. School children don’t take civics. It’s not always even offered.
“In terms of shielding reporters, we’re providing less protection than other countries. I’m now defending legislation that’s being prepared in front of Congress so confidential sources are not at such great risk. The high level of protection must endure. Free speech is not preventing speakers from speaking.
“This book is a broad-based defense against our broad enemies. Conservative jurists come to this defense. Liberals move against it. With political speech protected in campaigns, it is the first time in history of signs against American rights. States and Congress can make laws limiting amounts of funds donated — another way to limit free speech. But even if you disagree, it’s dangerous to amend our heritage.
“Harry Reid will put this up for a vote soon. A genuine effort to amend the Constitution, to give fewer rights than the Constitution provides, is discomforting.”
Constitutional lawyer Floyd Abrams, father of ABC-TV chief legal anchor Dan Abrams: “The way of the law is the way of the world.”
Odds & ends
“Downtown Abbey’s” home Highclere Castle doing an all-charity day. To donate or buy a prize, the online auction’s Monday . . . A friend’s old memory: “Sandra Bernhard hung around celebrities. We thought she’s a maybe stalker. Who knew her persistence would pay off. A year later came her break with ‘The King of Comedy.’ ” . . . Alaskan scientists proved felines are smarter than canines. How? They determined we’ll never find eight cats dumb enough to pull a sled.
He stirs a good ‘Soup’
Joel McHale, E!’s “The Soup” host: “We all write the jokes. Everything’s written before we go on air for 22 minutes. I rely on the best writers in the world. We tape. When s - - t happens we sometimes let it go, or there’s 5 percent improv.
Often I don’t get to see a script until just hours before. Some I never see in advance. Since I’m dyslexic, I’ve trained myself to use the teleprompter.”
Joel in the new crime movie “Deliver Us From Evil” says: “I play a psychotic named Butler. I use knives instead of tasers. It’s sweet.”
Pay attention
Kim Kardashian? No tit-for-tat boob, she won’t go bust. Four people could live on that behind, and after shopping her Hampton store I’m saying it could be five . . .
Romeo Santos, Bronx singer who twice packed every Yankee Stadium seat — polite. Gentlemanly. A “Yes sir — thank you, ma’am” guy . . .
Melissa McCarthy? With all her p.r., every mag, newspaper, TV show, dusty windshield hyping her movie, how is it the thing tanked?!
Holiday meal on the Fords
Quick memory that just invaded my mind about Ford Models empress Eileen Ford, whom we just lost: One Christmas she was in Anguilla with husband Jerry and a pack of 13 — kids and grandkids. I asked, “Who’s paying for this whole crew?” Always forthright she snapped: “You kiddin’? Who do you think?”
A driver stalled in crosswalk traffic: “We got lots of bodies in control — congresspeople, senators, governors, council types, FBI guys, mayors, aldermen, meter maids, NYPD, Boy Scouts, DC pols grabbing handouts — and what have we got? Chaos!”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.