Court Rules Threatening the President = Free Speech
From the San Francisco Gate:
A Southern California man who urged readers of an online message board to “shoot the n-” two weeks before the 2008 presidential election, and said Barack Obama “will have a 50 cal in the head soon,” was protected by freedom of speech, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
It was a 2-1 decision, so here’s what the dissenting judge had to say on the issue:
Dissenting Judge Kim Wardlaw said anyone posting such messages “at a time when violent and racist threats against candidate Obama were being taken very seriously” must have known, and intended, that they would be interpreted as threats.
This is getting ridiculous.