Various far-right supreme courts took a sledgehammer to the 1st amendment, and there has been nothing but crickets from those who say they are free speech warriors. This story isn't getting anywhere near the coverage it deserves, and it honestly disgusts me. It’s early days, so I still hold out hope this will change.
The Supreme Court declined to take the case, and specifically said they were not ruling on the merits of the lower court's decision. As much as you might not like to hear it, that ruling is in line with the "Imminent lawless action" standard established in cases like Brandenburg v. Ohio. The man that Vox describes as someone who "faces potentially ruinous financial consequences if a single attendee at a mass protest commits an illegal act" led the protest in question directly into the street to block traffic, initiated and escalated the standoff with police which resulted in an officer being hit with a rock and suffering serious physical injuries. The defendant wasn't even charged with assault or battery, he was charged with negligence because in the eyes of the lower court he "organized and directed the protest in such a manner as to create an unreasonable risk that one protester would assault or batter an officer." He isn't facing civil penalties for his speech, he's facing civil penalties for his actions, which definitely represented "imminent lawless action" under the Brandenburg standard. If the Supreme Court had taken the case and ruled the way Vox and/or Daniel Medina would have liked, it would be extremely solid case law to shut down any of the charges against Donald Trump or his supports in regards to January 6th. Trump's participation in the J6 events were significantly smaller than the participation of this defendant's participation in a police confrontation that led to significant life-altering injuries.
As one should expect at this point, reading Vox leaves you woefully misinformed with a completely distorted view of what actually happened. What Vox published was not a reasonable legal analysis, but a tantrum over the courts doing exactly what they should have done instead of giving a pass to the protesters with whom Vox and/or the author of the Vox piece align.
The Supreme Court declined to take the case, and specifically said they were not ruling on the merits of the lower court's decision. As much as you might not like to hear it, that ruling is in line with the "Imminent lawless action" standard established in cases like Brandenburg v. Ohio. The man that Vox describes as someone who "faces potentially ruinous financial consequences if a single attendee at a mass protest commits an illegal act" led the protest in question directly into the street to block traffic, initiated and escalated the standoff with police which resulted in an officer being hit with a rock and suffering serious physical injuries. The defendant wasn't even charged with assault or battery, he was charged with negligence because in the eyes of the lower court he "organized and directed the protest in such a manner as to create an unreasonable risk that one protester would assault or batter an officer." He isn't facing civil penalties for his speech, he's facing civil penalties for his actions, which definitely represented "imminent lawless action" under the Brandenburg standard. If the Supreme Court had taken the case and ruled the way Vox and/or Daniel Medina would have liked, it would be extremely solid case law to shut down any of the charges against Donald Trump or his supports in regards to January 6th. Trump's participation in the J6 events were significantly smaller than the participation of this defendant's participation in a police confrontation that led to significant life-altering injuries.
As one should expect at this point, reading Vox leaves you woefully misinformed with a completely distorted view of what actually happened. What Vox published was not a reasonable legal analysis, but a tantrum over the courts doing exactly what they should have done instead of giving a pass to the protesters with whom Vox and/or the author of the Vox piece align.
Most likely they're somewhere on the dark side of the moon looking for Roger Waters.