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<b><i>BREAKING NEWS:</b></i> Justices Sidestep First Amendment Ruling in Facebook Threats Case

By Tony Mauro
June 01, 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 1 sided with a Pennsylvania man whose angry Facebook postings directed at his estranged wife landed him in jail for violating a federal law against communicating threats.

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.,'writing for a 7-2 majority'in'Elonis v. United States, said the government needed to prove more than the defendant was negligent or that a reasonable person would regard the statements as a threat.

The “reasonable person” standard, Roberts wrote, is “inconsistent with the conventional requirement for criminal conduct'awareness of some wrongdoing.” As a result, he concluded, “[Anthony] Elonis' conviction cannot stand.”

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