Supreme Court to Decide Whether Violent Online Messages Are 'True Threats' or Free Speech

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would take up a case involving the issue of when violent statements made online count as actual threats and when such statements are considered free speech under the First Amendment.

The case involves Anthony Elonis, a Pennsylvania man convicted in 2010 under federal law for posting a series of threatening messages on his Facebook page. According to court documents, Elonis began making violent and threatening public statements on Facebook shortly after his wife and their two small children moved out. Elonis also began acting out at the amusement park where he worked, Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom—among other things, he engaged in behavior that led to a co-worker filing five sexual harassment complaints against him. At one point he posted a picture of himself in costume, taken during the park’s Halloween Haunt, holding a knife to the neck of that co-worker, with the caption “I wish.” Elonis’ supervisor saw the post and fired him the same day.

After he was fired, Elonis’ posts became increasingly violent. According to court documents, Elonis’ Facebook statements included threats to kill his ex-wife, blow up the sheriff’s office, shoot up a kindergarten, and attack former co-workers. According to court documents, Elonis’ ex-wife testified that she felt like she was being stalked by Elonis’ posts, and that she was “extremely afraid” after statements like these appeared:

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The question of what constitutes free speech and what constitutes criminal threats is one federal courts have struggled with, especially after 2003, when the Supreme Court, in Virginia v. Black, ruled that burning a cross could sometimes count as free speech. Since then, courts faced with the issue have split on whether to prove a statement is a “true threat” prosecutors must prove (beyond a reasonable doubt) that the speaker intended the statement to be a threat or whether a “reasonable person” would find the statement threatening. According to Elonis’ attorneys, whether or not Elonis’ statements were criminal threats depends on whether Elonis intended them to be actual threats, which they say he did not. In fact, Elonis’ attorneys claim their client wasn’t threatening anyone—they say he was just imitating Eminem.

Supreme Court to Decide Whether Violent Online Messages Are 'True Threats' or Free Speech