this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
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Completely insane ruling. Wild that Kagan went across the aisle for this.
So I guess it's basically impossible to convict anyone of anything involving speech? If I yell "fire" in a crowded theater, how can you prove I wasn't having a delusion that there was a fire? Maybe there was an explosion in the movie and I was so immersed I thought it was real!
Dude had previous convictions and spent years doing this harassing, it's not like this was an isolated mental break. Truly insane.
This guy, given his behavior, should absolutely be in a facility where he can't do any harm.
However - I have known a few people with Tourette's over the years, and can absolutely say that mental state and abilities should play a factor in whether or not something that's done would violate the law.
Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater may not be something someone with tourette's can control. If that causes a stampede and people get trampled, that's not their fault, in my opinion.
The point I'm making is that the "fire" is a classic example of speech that isn't protected in the US, but with this ruling there's no way to prove intent. So what if I sat down and continued watching the movie afterwards? I just got over the delusion. And someone with tourette's would probably apologize, try to calm people down, or even avoid a theater altogether. I'm pretty sure that someone with a peanut allergy can't sue a peanut farm if they go visit and sample the produce; if you know there's an extra danger for you specifically in performing an activity then you are responsible.
Not to mention tourette's could never cause targeted, violent, electronic-message based harassment either. This is a focused, intentional action.
I don't how it will affect your overall stance, but the "Yelling fire in a crowded theater" (aka, "clear and present danger") test, which comes from Schenck v. United States, was overturned in 1979 with the case Brandenburg v. Ohio, which gave us the "Imminent Lawless Action" test, instead. This test requires:
Yelling fire in a crowded theater is only illegal if it meets that test-- all three requirements-- on a case by case basis.