Supreme Court Ducks Main Issue in Internet Threat Case

Supreme Court Ducks Main Issue in Internet Threat Case

June 1, 2015 Oscar Michelen 2

The Supreme Court yesterday issued a long awaited decision in Elonis v. United States that failed to address the core issues presented by the case involving harsh language posted on the Internet. Under a 1939 federal criminal statute prohibiting the communication of threats, Anthony Elonis was charged with threatening his wife; a kindergarten class; and […]

First Amendment Case is Crash Course in Rap for SCOTUS

September 16, 2014 Oscar Michelen 1

Anthony Elonis is a Pennsylvania man convicted of issuing threats to his ex-wife, who had an order of protection against him. All of the relevant threats were posted on Elonis’ Facebook page and most of them took the form of rap lyrics. He did not tag or link his ex-wife to the posts and he […]