Someone e-mailed me about these two cases, and I found that I’d mislaid the citations. To keep that from happening again, and to help others who are interested in the subject, I thought I’d blog them: They are People v. Upshaw, 190 Misc. 2d 704, 741 N.Y.S.2d 664, 2002 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 203, and People v. Harvey, 2001NY078439, noted at N.Y.L.J., Feb. 1, 2002 (available on LEXIS); see this AP story for the details. The theory behind the convictions was that the speech drew a hostile crowd, which looked like it was going to turn to violence; I think that the Supreme Court decision in Feiner v. New York (1951), which authorized these sorts of prosecutions, is mistaken, and has been undermined by later cases, but there’s still some controversy over that, as these cases show.
The cases are noteworthy because they are among the very few prosecutions for pro-terrorist speech since September 11, 2001.
UPDATE: Prof. Matt Bosworth reports that the Harvey prosecution was ultimately dropped by the New York D.A.’s office. See N.Y.L.J., Apr. 26, 2002.
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