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Notes -
J. K. Rowling challenges new Scottish hate speech legislation, openly challenging them to arrest her for calling trans criminals men who pretend to be women:
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1774747068944265615
#ArrestMe is, dare I say it, brave and powerful. At least she's putting skin in the game. It's also pretty well calculated in my opinion.
They can't really attack her for being a right wing extremist when her world famous books are a pretty clear allegory of Racism Bad. She even makes sure to target India Willoughby, who is apparently anti-black. Rowling has an enormous pot of money for expensive litigation and automatic worldwide attention on her. It's hard to righteously defend people such as
It's very practical politics to fish out the worst of the enemy milieu to preface one's normative statements. I think Rowling has a good shot at tactical victory - either the govt won't charge her or she'll win in court. On the other hand, only systemic change is going to change the progressive-leaning status quo. You need an Orban or some similar force to drag out the weed by the roots, rather than just pruning away when it grows particularly egregious. Rowling is no Orban, that's probably far too extreme for her.
The legislation is here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2021/14/contents
Crimes include 'stirring up hate' by 'behaving in a manner that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening, abusive or insulting' to select groups. Looks like it allows nigh-limitless opportunities for selective enforcement. And a huge drain on police resources, given they can't even investigate all crimes:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-68703684
Why would she win? If she violates the law and is convicted there is no higher court to appeal to, there is no British constitution. She could ‘flee’ to England, which would lead to an interesting legal situation (any British police force can make arrests anywhere in the UK, so Police Scotland could in theory arrest her in, say, London and drive her back to Edinburgh, but they would be reluctant to do so for political reasons). But the only real way for her to win if charged would be for the UK Parliament to pass a law explicitly reversing the Scottish Parliament’s bill. In an election year that is unlikely, and it will be even more so after Labour win in October.
ECHR
She could file a complaint with the ECHR, and under Scottish law the government would have to consider their decision, sure. But it would be as meaningless as appealing to the King for a royal pardon (and about as likely).
Hate speech (which the ECHR admits is vaguely or broadly defined) or any speech that runs contrary to the “fundamental principles” of the ECHR is explicitly considered exempt from Article 10 (free speech) protection.
Not only that, but the ECHR has a history of rejecting challenges to hate speech convictions, especially those relating to LGBT issues. For example, here’s the ECHR affirming the conviction of an Icelandic national for calling LGBTQ people “sexual deviants”.
Rowling would not win her case there, an appeal to the ECHR would be appealing to a body around which the Scottish government essentially bases much of its social policy.
I'm not sure how the case would go, the point was that she could still appeal to it.
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