Washington, D.C.
The Supreme Court ruled this week that states can punish Ku Klux Klansmen for setting crosses on fire. Cross burning, the court ruled in a 6-3 vote, is not a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. When the case was argued in December, Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s only black judge, heatedly said that cross burning was a tool of intimidation that the Ku Klux Klan and other white-supremacy groups had used on African-Americans in a century-long “reign of terror.” Thomas said the First Amendment guarantee of free speech did not apply to anyone who tried to “terrorize and intimidate to make their point.” The court’s ruling upholds a Virginia law banning cross burning, which a lower court had ruled was a violation of free-speech guarantees.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
One great cookbook: Joshua McFadden’s ‘Six Seasons of Pasta’the week recommends The pasta you know and love. But ever so much better.
-
Scientists are worried about amoebasUnder the radar Small and very mighty
-
Buddhist monks’ US walk for peaceUnder the Radar Crowds have turned out on the roads from California to Washington and ‘millions are finding hope in their journey’
