The federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a California man’s online rant against Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign did not constitute “serious threat” and was protected under the First Amendment.
The man had posted the comments, “Obama fk the niggar, he will have a 50 cal in the head soon,” “shoot the nig country fkd for another 4 years+, what nig has done ANYTHING right???? long term???? never in history, except sambos.” But Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the majority, “The evidence is not sufficient to support a conclusion that a reasonable person who read the postings within or without the relevant context would have understood either to mean that Bagdasarian threatened to injure or kill the presidential candidate.” -db
From the Courthouse News Service, July 19, 2011, by Tim Hull.