Ep. 68 'True threats' with David L. Hudson Jr.

There are very few exceptions to the First Amendment, and a “true
threat” is one of them.


But defining a true threat isn’t easy. Ever since the U.S.
Supreme Court first examined true threats in the 1969 case Watts
v. United States, it’s been a messy doctrine. The court didn’t
provide a definition of a true threat until many years after
Watts, and even then questions still remained.


On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we
discuss the true threats doctrine with First Amendment scholar
and FIRE Legal Fellow David L. Hudson Jr. He is the author of an
ABA Journal article about true threats titled “When do rants
exceed First Amendment boundaries and become true threats?”


Also, don’t miss Hudson tell the story of many important student
free speech court cases as part of our “FIRE Starter” video
series. You can watch the short videos on FIRE’s YouTube channel
at YouTube.com/theFIREorg.


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