Minnesota Lawyer

In general, we're free to say what we want, when we want, in just about any place we choose. Therein is a modern-day dilemma: Many of our fellow citizens do just that, in ways that are amplified by the Internet's reach.

We're either on the verge of a new era in transparency in the federal government - or we're not.

Afghanistan is about as removed as one could imagine from being at the center of a First Amendment controversy. Nonetheless, there was a dust-up recently over the press’s ability to report freely on U.S. military operations there, and the dust has barely settled.

Saying that someone deserves to be killed certainly gets anyone’s attention. But when does saying that or something like it pass from just being hateful speech that offends, or just so much hot air, to what the law calls a “true threat” – and the catalyst for criminal prosecution?