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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   28734 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 29, 2023

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It's specifically a statute against intimidating people with burning objects written for the KKK and now applied to this Tiki Torch guy. I'm not sure how broadly that will apply given most political speech doesn't involve burning objects.

Sure, but if it can be constitutionally applied in these circumstances, there's no particular reason to think a similar law without the burning requirement could not be applied to similar circumstances that don't include the burning. I.e., a law against protesting generally with an intent to intimidate. That seems a lot more likely now.

What is the similar law? There is specifically a Virginia statute against burning objects on public property with the intent to intimidate. Show me the law against 'protesting with an intent to intimidate".

Why? Let's suppose I hypothetically produced a jurisdiction with such a law. Would you find it invalid, and if so, on what grounds? Or is your position just that there is no chance of a slippery slope along these lines?

We have had categories of speech that are not protected by the first amendment for a long time, obscenity, threats, incitement to lawless action. It's easy to imagine how these narrow restrictions might be broadened and abused, yet we've had them for a long time without degenerating into a censorious dictatorship. The fact that you can imagine a hypothetical slippery slope isn't significant, the question is if we're actually sliding down it. I'm asking you for evidence that we are.

I don’t think this is historically correct. The First Amendment was practically moribund for most of US history and it was not until well into the 20th century that the Court put any teeth into it at all. Eg, in 1915 the Court unanimously ruled that film are not speech nor press and hence film censorship is permitted. That case was not overruled until 1952.

So, the history is not "we once had more freedom but then slid down the slippery slope, and now are clawing back up." Rather, we started at the bottom

I would gesture at a novel and pointedly selective interpretation of the law in this case, but I already gather you don't find that persuasive.

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