Topic summary
Watts v. United States
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Threatening the president of the United States.
Watts v. United States
In the case of Watts v. United States 394 U.S. 705 (1969), the United States Supreme Court ruled that mere political hyperbole must be distinguished from true threats. At a DuBois Club public rally on the Washington Monument grounds, a member of the assembled group suggested that the young people present should receive more education before expressing their views. The accused, an 18-year-old man, replied: