Supreme Court Says States Can Ban Cross Burnings

Reuters - As shown by the vote, 5-4, this is a borderline issue. We want to protect speech, even speech for unpopular viewpoints, but does cross burning cross the line into intimidation and incitement to violence?

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said for the majority that the First Amendment allowed Virginia to outlaw cross burnings done with the intent to intimidate because burning a cross is a particularly virulent form of intimidation.

Virginia and the U.S. Justice Department defended the law, arguing it targets actual threatening conduct and not mere "hate speech." O'Connor said burning a cross in the United States was intertwined with the history of the Klan, which imposed a reign of terror in the South by whipping, threatening and murdering blacks, southern whites who disagreed with them and "carpetbagger" northern whites.

She added that the protections the First Amendment afforded speech and expressive conduct were not absolute.