On the Next Docket: How the First Amendment Applies to Social Media; New York Times, 6/30/14

Adam Liptak, New York Times; On the Next Docket: How the First Amendment Applies to Social Media:

"Mr. Elonis was convicted under a federal law that makes it a crime to communicate “any threat to injure the person of another.” The sentence was 44 months.

The case is one of many recent prosecutions “for alleged threats conveyed on new media, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter,” according to a brief supporting Mr. Elonis from several First Amendment groups.

In urging the Supreme Court not to hear Mr. Elonis’s case, the Justice Department said his intent should make no difference. A perceived threat creates “fear and disruption,” the brief said, “regardless of whether the speaker subjectively intended the statement to be innocuous.”

Mr. Elonis’s lawyers did not deny that their approach would allow some statements with “undesirable effects.” But they said the First Amendment should tolerate those effects rather than “imprisoning a person for negligently misjudging how others would construe his words.”

The First Amendment does not protect all speech. There are exceptions for libel, incitement, obscenity and fighting words, and one for “true threats,” which is at issue in Mr. Elonis’s case."