A couple of things we are certain to hear a few thousand times in the next couple of days:
1. "These killings were a senseless act." What nonsense. It made plenty of sense to Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the man who did it. He had it in for the cops, in part, as his Instagram entry all but proclaims, because of the intentionally whipped-up hatred against them, and acted on his hatred. Nothing senseless about it.
2. "We should come together in the face of this tragedy." This will be said over and over by the people who used the Michael Brown and Eric Garner deaths to inflame racial antagonism and grievance as much as they could.
It's only fair, however, to note one thing we will not hear: We won't hear Ivy League law students complaining that their distress makes it impossible for them to take their exams.
And you won't hear de Blasio talking about "centuries" of cop-hating criminals.
Do you think this could "move the needle" on the Elonis case?
I do not see much relevance to the Elonis case. That case centers on the far more common circumstance of domestic violence and threats directed specifically at Elonis's soon-to-be-ex-wife. Such threats happen every day, and unfortunately are often carried out. I think the Justices were well aware of that before this incident.
I expect the vote has been taken in Elonis, the opinion has been assigned, and it is in the process of being written. I can't see any of the Justices changing their votes as a result of this crime.
I agree with Kent. The Justices have almost certainly already taken the vote, and even if otherwise, I believe every one of them understands that the principles at stake in Elonis are no different now from what they were 24 hours ago.
I read Kent's brief on Elonis and most of it made sense except for the colloquially on "gangsta rap" - did Elonis raise a defense saying he was quoting rap lyrics or something to that effect?
As a brief side note, the first thing I tell any of my clients is they need to go "radio silent" on facebook as nothing they post can bring them any good.
The rap section is in response to an amicus brief on the other side.
That must have been an interesting brief....is there any place to find Supreme Court pleadings? Apparently PACER stops at the circuit level.
SCOTUSblog, linked under Blogs in the middle column.
Thanks. I read the brief about rap music. Somewhat of an interesting background of the genre, but largely irrelevant in my opinion as Elonis is not a rapper and can't really claim he is portraying a character ala Eminem.