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True Threats

  • Boyle v. Landry(1971)

Boyle v. Landry (1971) reversed injunctions against enforcement statutes
and ordinances prohibiting intimidation, despite a First Amendment plea by
African-Americans.

  • Counterman v. Colorado (2023)

In Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U. S. ____ (2023), the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the conviction of a man found guilty of stalking a female musician, ruling that the First Amendment’s protection of free speech requires that prosecutors show that he was aware of the threatening nature of his communications.   The ruling provided additional

  • Elonis v. United States (2015)

Elonis v. United States (2015) reversed a conviction of a man convicted of
making threats via Facebook posts. True threats are not protected by the
First Amendment.

  • Hunter v. Bryant (1991)

“True threats” are not protected by the First Amendment. Hunter v. Bryant
(1991) upheld the warrantless arrest of a man who made a supposed threat
against the President.

  • Kansas v. Boettger and Kansas v. Johnson (2020)

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Kansas State Supreme
Court ruling that invalidated a statute criminalizing threats made with
reckless disregard for the fear they causes. Justice Clarence Thomas
dissented, saying he thought the truth threat jurisprudence needed to be
clarified.

  • Lavine v. Blaine School District (9th Cir.) (2001)

Lavine v. Blaine School District (9th Cir. 2001) said a school’s decision
to emergency expel a student who submitted a violent-themed poem did not
violate the First Amendment.

  • People v. Counterman (Colo. Court of Appeals) (2021)

A Colorado appellate court’s ruling in an online stalking case has led to a review by the U.S. Supreme Court on what the government must show about the speaker’s state of mind for speech to be considered a “true threat” and not protected under the First Amendment.   In People v. Counterman (2021), the Colorado

  • Perez v. Florida (2017)

In Perez v. Florida (2017), the Supreme Court declined to look at the First
Amendment issues in the the conviction of a man who drunkenly stated he
could blow up a liquor store.

  • Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette, Inc. v. American Coalition of Life Activists (9th Cir.) (2002)

Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette, Inc. v. American Coalition
of Life Activists (2002) determined that anti-abortion speech was not
protected by the First Amendment.

  • Virginia v. Black (2003)

Virginia v. Black (2003) upheld a statute making it illegal to burn a cross
in public to intimidate others. Cross burning was a true threat unprotected
by the First Amendment.

  • Watts v. United States (1969)

Watts v. United States (1969) determined that the First Amendment does not
protect true threats but that a threat made against President Johnson was
political hyperbole.

ABOUT US

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The Free Speech Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy center dedicated to building understanding of the five freedoms of the First Amendment through education, information and engagement.

freespeechcenter@mtsu.edu

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