Thread

Montreal adopts bylaw banning insults against police, municipal employees

80 points · 84 comments · MC995

petcat · 1790176685 · focus · HN ↗
Something similar was attempted in Houston in the 1980s and the US Supreme Court struck it down as a clear 1st Amendment violation [1]
> The Constitution does not allow such speech to be made a crime. The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.
[1] <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/482/451" rel="nofollow">https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/482/451
1. voidfunc · 1790178169 · focus · HN ↗
  I really wonder if that would still get struck down by the SCOTUS of 2026. If give it 50/50 odds.
  1. petcat · 1790179755 · focus · HN ↗
    The current supreme court cited the 1987 Houston ruling in both 2024 and 2025 in decisions that reaffirmed insulting police officers as constitutionally protected speech.
    So yes, the current SCOTUS has already upheld it.
    red-iron-pine · 1790189574 · focus · HN ↗
    but no support for constitutionally based protection from bullets, cuz ICE be killing US citizens
    but you can legally call them cunts, so that's okay I guess
    petcat · 1790201723 · focus · HN ↗
    This is what happens in China.
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiMLVYK4hEc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiMLVYK4hEc

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