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"Ratio et Spes" on the freedom of speech
This year's laureate of the international Ratio et Spes Scientific Award is Prof. Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr., lecturer at the University of Alabama School of Law.
"Ratio et Spes" is an award granted jointly since 2020 by the Nicolaus Copernicus University and the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI for outstanding interdisciplinary scientific publications or series of publications on topics determined each year.
This year's edition was accompanied by the theme "The relationship between the freedom of speech and the protection of human dignity". According to the jury, Prof. Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr.'s book "Free Speech as Civic Structure. A Comparative Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech" best addresses this issue, receiving the highest rating from the team of experts.
The Scientific Council of the Award agreed with the experts' decision and pointed out that the publication is characterized by its interdisciplinary nature and subject matter concerning current issues that have a significant impact on the lives and functioning of both individuals and societies.
Professor Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr. graduated from Emory University and received his Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees from Duke University, where he served as editor of the Duke Law Journal and was honored with membership in the Order of the Coif. He clerked for Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals on the Eleventh Circuit, after which he joined the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.
Prof. Krotoszynski has worked at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and Washington and Lee University School of Law, among others. He has also lectured as a visiting professor at William & Mary Law School, Florida State University College of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law, Brooklyn Law School, Seattle University School of Law, and Syracuse University College of Law. He currently teaches at the University of Alabama School of Law, where he holds the prestigious John S. Stone Chair in Law and also serves as Director of Research and Director of the Constitutional Studies Program and Civic Engagement Initiative.
Professor Krotoszynski's research and teaching focus on constitutional law, First Amendment law, administrative law, and comparative constitutional law. He writes and lectures on freedom of expression, the relationship between law and culture in shaping values, practices, and norms concerning freedom of speech. Krotoszynski is the author of several books and dozens of scholarly articles published in leading American law journals, such as the Yale Law Journal, Duke Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and UCLA Law Review. His latest book is titled Free Speech as Civic Structure: A Comparative Analysis of How Courts and Culture Shape the Freedom of Speech (Oxford University Press, 2024). His other publications include The Disappearing First Amendment (Cambridge University Press, 2019), Privacy Revisited: A Global Perspective on the Right to Be Left Alone (Oxford University Press, 2016 & 2018), and Reclaiming the Petition Clause (Yale University Press, 2012). He is also co-author of the textbooks First Amendment: Cases and Theory (Aspen Publishers, 4th ed., 2022) (with Lyrissa Lidsky, Caroline Mala Corbin, and Timothy Zick) and Administrative Law (Aspen Publishers, 6th ed., 2025) (with John M. Rogers, Michael Healy, and Kent Barnett).
