Facebook Threat Conviction Thrown Out by US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court buttressed speech protections on the Internet, throwing out the conviction of a man who used graphic language on Facebook to suggest he might kill his wife, kindergarten students and an FBI agent. The case marks the first time the high court has ruled on the rights of people when they post on social media. It tested how the federal threat statute applies in a world of online communications, with their potential to reach thousands of people instantly and to be misunderstood. A lower court had said prosecutors needed to show only that a reasonable person would view Anthony Elonis’s statements as a threat.

Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors need to prove more than that -- at least that Elonis’s comments were reckless and perhaps that he meant for his words to be taken as a threat. “Federal criminal law generally does not turn solely on the results of an act without considering the defendant’s mental state,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. Elonis, who cites the rapper Eminem as an inspiration, said his posts were therapeutic rap lyrics and weren’t intended as threats. One post said, “I’m not gonna rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and dying from all the little cuts.” Another envisioned his wife’s “head on a stick.” The justices didn’t decide whether Elonis’s First Amendment rights were violated, instead interpreting the federal threat statute in a way that averted potential constitutional problems.