Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Them daze is gone........Free Speech’s Shrinking Circle of Friends

Barry A. Fisher: Free Speech’s Shrinking Circle of Friends - WSJ:
"An essential freedom-of-speech paradigm was established in 1949 by the Supreme Court in Terminiello v. Chicago.
In that case a vitriolic, racist speaker spoke to an auditorium packed with supporters. Outside the auditorium was what was described as “ ‘a surging, howling mob hurling epithets’ at those who would enter and ‘tried to tear their clothes off.’ ”
The police blamed the mob’s action on the speaker, Arthur Terminiello, a Catholic priest under suspension by his bishop.
He was convicted of disturbing the peace and fined.
 The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, reversed the conviction and ruled that Terminiello’s speech was protected by the First Amendment.
The court said that the police, instead of taking action against the speaker, should have protected him and controlled the crowd..."

No comments: