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''Elonis v. United States'', 13-983 U.S. ___ (2015), is a case heard on December 1, 2014 by the United States Supreme Court on whether conviction of threatening another person over interstate lines (under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c)) requires proof of subjective intent to threaten, or whether it is enough to show that a “reasonable person” would regard the statement as threatening. In controversy is the fact the purported threats consist of violent rap lyrics written by Anthony Douglas Elonis and posted to Facebook under a pseudonym. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioner.〔 This is the first time the Court has heard a case considering true threats and the limits of speech on social media. ==Background== Elonis was in the process of divorce and made a number of public Facebook posts. He "posted the script of a sketch" comedy sketch by ''The Whitest Kids U' Know'', which originally referenced saying "I want to kill the President of the United States", replacing the president with his wife: ''Did you know that it's illegal for me to say I want to kill my wife? ''It's illegal. ''It's indirect criminal contempt. ''It's one of the only sentences that I'm not allowed to say. ''Now it was okay for me to say it right then because I was just telling you that it's illegal for me to say I want to kill my wife...'' Elonis ended the post with the statement, "Art is about pushing limits. I'm willing to go to jail for my constitutional rights. Are you?" A week later, Elonis posted about local law enforcement and a kindergarten class, which caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, after which he wrote a post on Facebook about one of the agents who visited him: ''...Took all the strength I had not to turn the bitch ghost ''Pull my knife, flick my wrist, and slit her throat ''Leave her bleedin’ from her jugular in the arms of her partner..." concluding.. ''And if you really believe this s * * * ''I’ll have some bridge rubble to sell you tomorrow ''()()() These actions led to Elonis' indictment by a grand jury on five counts of threats to park employees and visitors, local law enforcement, his estranged wife, an FBI agent, and a kindergarten class, relayed through interstate communication. At the district court he moved to dismiss the indictment for failing to allege that he had intended to threaten anyone. His motion was denied. He requested a jury instruction that "the government must prove that he intended to communicate a true threat." which was also denied. He was convicted on the last four of the five counts. He was sentenced to 44 months in prison, and three years supervised release. He appealed unsuccessfully to the circuit court of appeals, renewing his challenge to the jury instructions. He appealed to the Supreme Court based on lack of any attempt to show intent to threaten and on First Amendment rights.〔〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/supreme_court_preview/BriefsV4/13-983_resp.authcheckdam.pdf )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elonis v. United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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