The Supreme Court will take up the case of Billy Counterman who claims that his internet messages to a woman were not intended to be genuine threats and thereby protected by the First Amendment. Intend is key, but some lower courts ruled that prosecutors only have to establish that a “reasonable person” would consider the messages as threats. (NBC News, January 13, 2023, by Lawrence Hurley)
Counterman is seeking to vacate his conviction of stalking under Colorado law that forbids following or contacting a person “in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to suffer serious emotional distress.” A Supreme Court decision in the case may establish a standard for assessing true threats. (The Washington Times, January 13, 2023, by Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson)