Supreme Court Hears Argument On “True Threat” Case

The Supreme Court heard oral argument yesterday in the Elonis case yesterday. Mr. Elonis was convicted of uttering true threats on the Internet against several persons including his ex-wife. Under the “true threat” doctrine accepted by the Ninth Circuit and some state supreme courts, the governmnet need only show that a reasonable person would perceive the statements as a threat. Under Watts v. U.S. (394 U.S. 705 (1969)), the Supreme Court has determined that true threats do not receive protection under the First Amendment (differentiating hyperbolic speech made during a political discussion from knowing and willful threat against the life of the President). 

Mr. Elonis claims that his writings were literary expression and that the standard should be a subjective one (whether he intended .  Lyle Dennison of SCOTUSblog summarizes oral argument here.

More coverage here from the New York Times (including in an editorial here), at SCOTUSblog here