Can speech that incites others to commit crimes be punished?
Quick answer — “Not likely.” On August 12, 2017, Charlottesville resident Jason Kessler staged his “Unite the Right” rally, featuring a star-studded lineup of white nationalist and neo-Nazi speakers. The rally was expected to start at 12 noon. At about 11:35 AM a battle broke out on one side of Emancipation Park; the State Police […]...
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The ACLU/Rutherford Institute Letter to Charlottesville, Analyzed
Today (August 8, 2017) the ACLU and the Rutherford Institute sent Charlottesville a letter demanding that the City withdraw its August 7, 2017 letter that modified Jason Kessler’s demonstration permit to permit the demonstration only in McIntire Park. The City decision is explained in the statements of City Manager Maurice Jones, Police Chief Al Thomas, […]...
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Can Charlottesville Require Insurance for a Demonstration?
No. The City Standard Operating Procedure on Special Events, passed in 2009, distinguishes between “Special Events” — sports events, pageants, music festivals, etc., — and “demonstrations,” a term that refers to “non-commercial expression protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (such as picketing, political marches, speechmaking, vigils, walks, etc.) conducted on public […]...
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It’s Hard to Regulate Demonstrations
In the last two installments of my primer on First Amendment law, we reviewed the history of government regulations of demonstrations. In Part One, we saw how efforts to shut down civil rights marches enabled the Supreme Court to say, in increasingly emphatic tones, that governments cannot forbid, or even substantially inconvenience, protests because of […]...
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Time, Place and Manner Restrictions on Demonstrations
A few days ago, I discussed the history of efforts by governments to regulate demonstrations and protests. In Part One, I discussed the roots of the doctrines — in decisions by the United States Supreme Court to protect civil rights marchers from the efforts of the likes of Birmingham Police Commissioner Bull Connor to shut […]...
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What is the Heckler’s Veto?
The “heckler’s-veto” doctrine prohibits the government from regulating speech on the grounds that it will cause its hearers anger or discomfort. If speech provokes wrongful acts on the part of hecklers, the government must deal with those wrongful acts directly; it may not avoid doing so by suppressing the speech....
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The History of Trying to Impose Conditions on a Demonstration Permit
The leading cases on imposing conditions on the issuance of demonstration permits — Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham and Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement — have their roots in the Civil Rights movement....
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Please explain Virginia’s “unlawful assembly” law?
The Charlottesville anti-Klan protest on July 8 was declared to be an “unlawful assembly” by the Charlottesville Police Department. Here’s how that term is defined in the Virginia Code, and here’s a link to video. You decide....
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Can the “Fighting Words” doctrine be used against the alt-right?
A primer on the “Fighting Words” doctrine, and whether it applies against political speech… The simple answer is “not likely.” We start from the premise of the First Amendment that all speech is protected unless the Supreme Court has created an exception. Exceptions: Incitement to immediate illegal action — like encouraging desertion from the Army, […]...
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Does the First Amendment take sides?
I was struck by how many of the speakers at the Charlottesville City Council meeting last night want to draw a content-based rule in deciding who speaks — the KKK’s speech is upsetting to us; the alt-right’s speech is hateful to us. Neither group should have a right to a demonstration in Charlottesville, etc. People […]...
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