Anyone who has bothered to take a look at some of my older postings will know that a favorite topic of mine is getting arrested for swearing in public. It is well established that free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution protect even vulgar speech like swearing. As a recent article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution points out in an article about an Atlanta woman who was arrested for swearing at the police:
“Ms. Barnes’ comments to the police may have been offensive, but no
one in the United States of America should be chased down and arrested
for their free speech,” said lawyer Cynthia Counts, who represented
Barnes in her civil and criminal litigation. “The officers argued that
it was a bad neighborhood and you shouldn’t disrespect the police
because it could create issues,” she added.
Counts noted federal
courts had overuled such reasoning after 1918 sedition laws made
“disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the U.S.
government, flag or armed forces — or that caused people to view
government institutions with contempt — a felony.
These are losers for cities and counties. In this instance, Cobb County settled out of court with this potty mouth for $100,000!! Hopefully, in the future Cobb County will train its police officers to ignore offensive speech directed at them.
