Video: Supreme Court overturns conviction for “violent messages” on social media

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Ed Morrissey

June 1, 2015

 

Here’s a case that will have free-speech skeptics frantically grabbing their “buts.” A federal court convicted Anthony Elonis for posting “violent messages” on Facebook, claiming that a reasonable person would interpret them as direct expressions of an intent to commit violent acts. The ACLU and Elonis’ attorneys argued that his messages were protected speech and that the test of legality cannot be the interpretation of the listener but the intent of the speaker. The Supreme Court agreed, at least to an extent, vacating the conviction but sending the case back to the district court:

 

 

(Snip)

 

The vote went 7-2 in Elonis’ favor, with Roberts writing for the majority. The opinion makes clear that prosecution for speech requires at least some established mens rea on the part of the speaker to communicate an actual threat, and not just the impression of a threat on the part of listeners:

 

(Snip)