Headline Roundup • June 28th, 2023
Supreme Court Defines When Speech Becomes 'True Threat'
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Supreme Court issued a 7-2 decision to vacate a Colorado man’s stalking conviction on Tuesday, clarifying when speech constitutes a “true threat” not protected by the First Amendment.
The Details: Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote an opinion with Justice Neil Gorsuch agreeing with the result but not all of its reasoning. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. The defendant had been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for harassing a female musician with a series of messages, including "Was that you in the white Jeep?" and "You're not being good for human relations. Die. Don't need you."
Key Quotes: "The State must show that the defendant consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence," Kagan wrote. Barrett said the ruling "unjustifiably grants true threats preferential treatment."
For Context: The court's 6-3 conservative majority has fragmented on several decisions this term, including on the "independent state legislature" theory and voting rights.
How the Media Covered It: Some left-rated sources, like USA TODAY (Lean Left bias) focused on voices who suggested the ruling could enable stalkers. One report from Washington Examiner (Lean Right) highlighted voices who implied the decision could make it harder for the Justice Department to indict former President Donald Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Featured Coverage of this Story
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Tuesday that a speaker must have “some subjective understanding of his statements’ threatening nature” before he is accused of making a “true threat,” a category of speech not protected by the First Amendment.
“The question presented is whether the First Amendment still requires proof that the defendant had some subjective understanding of the threatening nature of his statements,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. “We hold that it does,...
The Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision tossed a Colorado man’s stalking conviction on Tuesday in a case that defines when states can prosecute “true threats” not protected by the First Amendment.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, rejected Colorado’s test that would weigh how an objective, reasonable person would perceive the statement and would not consider the intent of the sender.
Kagan wrote that states must prove the speaker’s recklessness for the threat to not be protected, a middle ground between the two parties’ proposals.
Kagan’s decision was joined by...
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with a man convicted of stalking after he sent hundreds of Facebook messages to a musician in Colorado she viewed as "creepy," drawing criticism from some advocates who said the decision would make it harder to convict people for similar behavior.
The appeal from Billy Counterman asked the Supreme Court to decide what constitutes a "true threat" that can be prosecuted as a crime versus what types of menacing language is protected. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the standard prosecutors in Colorado used to...
AllSides Picks
.png)
