Man challenges constitutionality of federal cyberstalking law

A man indicted for threats on Facebook is challenging the federal cyberstalking law on the grounds that the law makes free speech a crime and is vague and overbroad. The Pennsylvania man is charged with making a series of threats on Facebook after he was fired from his job at a theme park. The man [...]

Profanity not always protected by First Amendment

A suburban Chicago city recently rescinded a law against profanity in public places out of concern that the law may run afoul of the First Amendment, but says David L. Hudson Jr. of the First Amendment Center, the Constitution does not always protect profanity. The list of unprotected speech includes fighting words, true threats and [...]

Professor censors profanity on student free speech wall

A Sam Houston State University professor removed an insult to President Barack Obama posted by a student on the student free speech wall. Incensed by the censorship, students reported the vandalism to the campus police. Rather than come to the aid of the student in support of the First Amendment, the police threatened students with [...]

Free speech: Supreme Court allows church protests at military funerals

In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that hurtful public speech in protests at a military funeral was protected by the First Amendment. Followers of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas had picketed the funeral of a Marine who died in combat in Iraq with signs that read “America is Doomed” and [...]

Free speech: Federal court rules woman obstructed police through profanities

The 8th Circuit appeals court ruled that a woman’s profanities obstructed officers in their quest to arrest her son when her words distracted police dogs searching the son’s truck. -db Courthouse News Service August 5, 2010 By Matthew Reynolds (CN) – The 8th Circuit has reinstated a Springfield, Mo., ordinance allowing police officers to jail [...]

State courts find teen-agers’ ‘fighting words’ unprotected

Teen-agers are finding that courts are unsympathetic to their use of “fighting words”, viewing the language as disorderly conduct and affirming lower court decisions in finding the teen-agers delinquent. -db First Amendment Center Commentary March 11, 2010 By David L. Hudson Jr. Recent court decisions in Arizona and North Dakota demonstrate that kids can face [...]

Gates case: Disorderly conduct or protected speech?

Concerning the arrest of the Harvard Professor Louis Gates, a commentator for Forbes Magazine says it is important to look beyond the racial and class issues to those of the First Amendment. Does loud and offensive necessarily constitute disorderly conduct? -DB Forbes Magazine Commentary July 28, 2009 By Harvey A. Silverglate The now-infamous Gates story has [...]