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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31649 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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Attempting to trick people into not casting a valid vote is not "political discourse" any more than physically intimidating voters is political discourse

These are two entirely different things. The FBI has no valid role in preventing the former, perhaps unless those attempting to do so are falsely representing themselves as government officials. Just talking shit like "hey, you can vote for CandidateThatSucks by text" is still protected by the First Amendment; physically intimidating voters is not.

And this was certainly not all the FBI was doing.

hey, you can vote for CandidateThatSucks by text" is still protected by the First Amendment;

I am afraid that I am going to have to ask for authority for that claim, because:

content-based restrictions on speech have been permitted, as a general matter, only when confined to the few “ ‘historic and traditional categories [of expression] long familiar to the bar,’ ” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 5) (quoting Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of N. Y. State Crime Victims Bd., 502 U.S. 105, 127 (1991) (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment)). Among these categories are . . . speech integral to criminal conduct . . . [and]fraud[.]

United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709 (2012). And see * Illinois ex rel. Madigan v. Telemarketing Assocs., Inc.*, 538 U.S. 600 (2003) (upholding a statute prohibiting fraudulent speech, but advising that a "[f]alse statement alone does not subject a [speaker] to fraud liability" unless there is also intent to deceive)

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