Clay Calvert Comments on True Threats and Social Media Post Consequences

Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project and Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is quoted in “Free Speech vs. Violent Threats: Partisan Feud Pits School Board Members’ Safety Against Parents’ First Amendment Rights” published on the74million.org on Oct. 27.

The article focuses on the backlash local school boards have received over mask mandates and establishing diversity programs. These issues have highlighted a tension between ensuring school board members are safe while protecting the free-speech rights of aggrieved citizens.

According to Calvert, “The Constitution doesn’t guarantee ‘a dialectical free-for-all,’ and the Supreme Court has long held that true threats of violence are not constitutionally protected speech. But the issue at hand isn’t ‘black and white.’”

“There’s a difference between how we colloquially think of a threat versus the legal standards for what really is a threat, which are going to be much higher,” he said. “Parents have a First Amendment right to criticize government employees through offensive speech and officials must analyze on a case-by-case basis whether someone’s speech goes beyond protected dialogue.”

He adds, “A true threat is a statement that would place a person in fear of imminent bodily harm or death but does not include ‘political hyperbole.’ The line between true threats and hyperbole are not always clear and the Supreme Court has yet to offer a concrete definition.”

Calvert was also quoted in “First Amendment vs. Public Duty: Police Social Posts Renew Concerns About Bias, Solutions” published in The Providence Journal on Oct. 26.

The article focuses on dismissal of law enforcement officers based on questionable social media posts.

“Police officers and other government employees have free speech protections under the First Amendment but the protections ‘are not absolute,’” said Calvert. “The First Amendment gives you a right of free speech, but it doesn’t give you a right to be employed by the government… or to retain employment.”

Posted: October 28, 2021
Category: College News, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project News
Tagged as: Clay Calvert, First Amendment, free speech