The Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion and the Department of Politics co-sponsored a lecture titled, "Fight Against Hate Speech," at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law on February 3.

Hon. Wolfgang Brandstetter, Federal Minister of Justice of the Republic of Austria, discussed the terms of hate crime and hate speech in Austria and the European Union. He also provided a legal framework and described recent examples of case law regarding the relationship between the fundamental right of freedom of speech and the criminalization of hate speech from the European perspective. CUA Professor Marshall Breger provided a response from a 1st Amendment perspective.

Wolfgang Brandstetter has served as the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Austria since 2013. Dr. Brandstetter served as the Head of the Institute on Austrian and European Criminal Business Law at the University of Vienna's School of Economics and Business from 2007-2013. He was a professor of Criminal Law and Law of Criminal Procedure at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Vienna from 1998-2007.

Professor Marshall Breger coordinated the event that brought Austria's top justice official to the Columbus School of Law for the fourth time.