[logi_cal869]

If I had the time, I could cite numerous SCOTUS cases which were rooted in culture and/or decided with constraints (both ACA & Chaplinsky among them). Puritan nature still existed at the time of the cited case ("taking the name of the deity") and though my reference to going to SCOTUS was facetious and cliche', the cited case (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire) referenced a decision ripe for being overruled. In fact, there are numerous SCOTUS cases which have been overruled by subsequent decisions. Citation of the case is more confirmation bias than debating the facts for more reasons than I care to address.

Quoted in the reference:

Caine said the decision remained a troubling aspect of First Amendment law because it is still used by many courts — particularly state — to uphold convictions for people who criticize the police.

“While the lower federal courts generally follow the Supreme Court’s (later) lead in not upholding convictions for fighting words, the state courts have not been as [reluctant] and have stretched the fighting words doctrine beyond all recognition, primarily to protect the police from criticism, with all of the inherent dangers that such an approach presents,” Caine wrote.

Ironically, related to the Chaplinsky cases was a later case referenced in the link below (Cohen v. California (1971)).

Read it and weep, all you who would prosecute a man protected by USC (imho):

Later U.S. Supreme Court decisions seemingly curtailed the reach of Chaplinsky. For example, in Cohen v. California (1971), the Court ruled that an individual’s wearing of a jacket bearing the words “Fuck the Draft” in a California courthouse did not constitute fighting words, because Cohen did not direct the message at a particular person or group. “No individual actually or likely to be present could reasonably have regarded the words on appellant’s jacket as a direct personal insult,” the Court said.

I, for one, would have been pleased had BLM & its sycophants argued a Chaplinsky-like case against the lawful gathering in Charlottesville, as even with the current court I'd be confident that that's one case sure to be overruled.

.02 http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/fighting-words-case-still-making-waves-on-70th-anniversary/

[bramps]

Can the judge please order the witness to answer my question?

If you had an 18 year old daughter and this guy walked up to her and said, “F**k you” without provocation completely out of the blue, what would your reaction be?