How does burning the Koran differ from burning the flag? I thought we had been through this debate before and find Justice Breyer's comments strange, to say the least. Marci In a message dated 9/16/2010 11:27:09 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, con...@indiana.edu writes:
In an interview with George Stephanopolous, Justice Breyer has suggested that burning the Koran conceivably might not be protected by the First Amendment at all. According to Breyer, “Holmes said it doesn’t mean you can shout 'fire' in a crowded theater . . . . Well, what is it? Why? Because people will be trampled to death. And what is the crowded theater today? What is the being trampled to death? . . . It will be answered over time in a series of cases which force people to think carefully.” _http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/09/justice-stephen-breyer-is-burning-k oran-shouting-fire-in-a-crowded-theater.html_ (http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/09/justice-stephen-breyer-is-burning-koran-shouting-fire-in-a-crowde d-theater.html) Surely this cannot be unprotected speech, can it? Wouldn’t that amount to a global heckler’s veto whenever speech triggers or threatens a sufficiently violent reaction? And wouldn’t such a doctrine effectively reward - and thus encourage - such violence or threats thereof? Dan Conkle
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
