Rav V. St. Paul
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Rav V. St. Paul
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992).
Issue:
A teenager who placed a burning cross in the fenced back yard of a black family was charged under a City of St. Paul bias-motivated crime ordinance. At trial, the teenager moved for dismissal, alleging the ordinance was violative of the First Amendment. The Trial Court agreed and dismissed the case. On appeal, the MN Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling, citing the fighting words doctrine from Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), saying that the ordinance was a narrowly tailored means toward accomplishing the governmental interest in protecting the community.
Rule:
The ordinance was facially invalid under the First Amendment.
Analysis:
In the Opinion of the Court, Justice Scalia looks to the association of the fighting words doctrine used by the MN Supreme Court and agrees that the phrase arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others is within the scope of the doctrine. However, the remaining words in the ordinance criminalize acts that are based only on race, color, creed, religion, or gender. Referring to that language, Justice Scalia said the following:
Displays containing fighting words that do not invoke the disfavored subjects would seemingly be usable ad libitum by those arguing in favor of racial, color, etc., tolerance and equality, but not by their opponents. St. Paul’s desire to communicate to minority groups that it does not condone the group hatred of bias-motivated speech does not justify selectively silen...
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