Of relevance
This might seem like a small case. Who cares if a foul-mouthed ex-con cools off in prison for four months? But it gets at something large. Judges are already walled off from the public in all sorts of ways. They sit on elevated benches, they wear robes, they are addressed as “Your Honor,” and their work cannot in many cases be televised or photographed. This special status widens the gulf between judges and the people whose cases they judge.
Insulating judges from criticism takes this elevation too far. In monarchies, lèse majesté laws historically made it a crime to violate the dignity of the king or queen. Lèse majesté lives on in some countries. Earlier this year in Thailand, a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sending insulting text messages about the royal family. The punishment of Peoples for speaking harshly about a judge is akin to this clearly undemocratic example.
(MORE: Cohen: A New First Amendment Right: Videotaping the Police)
The F word is not so powerful that it can bring a mighty justice system to a standstill. The Supreme Court considered a similar issue in 1971, in a case involving a man who was sentenced to 30 days in jail for the “offensive conduct” of wearing a jacket bearing the words “F— the Draft” in the Los Angeles County Courthouse, and made clear that the words on the jacket were protected by the First Amendment. “One of the prerogatives of American citizenship is the right to criticize public men and measures — and that means not only informed and responsible criticism, but the freedom to speak foolishly and without moderation,” the court said, quoting Justice Felix Frankfurter.
We can have a system in which people are afraid to talk harshly about judges out of fear that they will be thrown in jail — or we can have a democracy. Peoples should take last week’s misguided ruling to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court should reverse his conviction — and uphold the right of all of us to criticize courts and judges “without moderation.”
http://ideas.time.com/2012/10/29/should-a-person-be-jailed-for-swearing-in-court/