About This Lesson
The Supreme Court skirted free speech issues in its ruling in Elonis v. United States (2015), the case of a Pennsylvania man convicted of making threats on Facebook. Instead, the justices reversed the conviction based on jury instructions and proof of intent. In this Elonis case study, excerpted from the Newseum class You Can’t Say That?!, students discuss and debate what forms of expression are or are not guaranteed in the Constitution — and the blurry line in-between.
