true-threats
15 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-6429 | Georgiy Chipunov v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2025-12-23 | Pending | Response RequestedResponse WaivedIFP | as-applied-challenge criminal-procedure facial-challenge first-amendment ninth-circuit true-threats | In Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66, 73 (2023), the Court clarified that, to comply with the First Amendment's protections, prosecutors "must prove… |
| 24-7239 | Ian R. Diaz v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2025-05-19 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | circuit-split first-amendment obstruction-offense stalking-statute statutory-construction true-threats | 1. Whether an intent to "harass" or "intimidate" under the federal stalking statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2261A, has an "ordinary" broad meaning or instead is … |
| 23-7123 | Ivan Isho v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2024-04-02 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | civil-rights due-process first-amendment free-speech jury-instructions mental-state objective-standard recklessness stalking true-threats | Whether the Ninth Circuit's decision below violated the standard this Court announced in Counterman—that true threats prosecutions require a mental st… |
| 23-6840 | Suzanne Ellen Kaye v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-02-27 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-law counterman-v-colorado first-amendment free-speech jury-instructions political-speech true-threats watts-v-united-states | In threat prosecutions where the defendant mounts a political-speech defense, may trial courts—consistent with the First Amendment—instruct the jury o… |
| 22-7397 | Daniel Kim v. Massachusetts | Massachusetts | 2023-04-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure criminal-speech due-process fighting-words first-amendment free-speech jury-determination jury-instructions speech-protection state-court true-threats | 1. Whether a state court is prohibited from unilaterally determining whether a defendant's written speech on his blog is protected or criminal, withou… |
| 22-138 | Billy Raymond Counterman v. Colorado | Colorado | 2022-08-11 | Judgment Issued | Amici (20)Relisted (5) | first-amendment free-speech objective-standard reasonable-person speech-protection subjective-intent true-threats | Whether, to establish that a statement is a "true threat" unprotected by the First Amendment, the government must show that the speaker subjectively k… |
| 21-739 | Mandeep Singh v. Haerim Won | Washington | 2021-11-18 | Denied | Relisted (2) | amendment-xiv civil-rights constitutional-rights due-process fighting-words free-speech harassment interstate-jurisdiction protection-order true-threats | "...blessed with daughter who I will be showing this world to as you are daughter to your parents... "- (PetAppK.p87a). 1) Are Jan 27th, 2019 actions… |
| 20-824 | Edward F. Taupier v. Connecticut | Connecticut | 2020-12-17 | Denied | Response Waived | civil-rights criminal-prosecution due-process first-amendment free-speech free-speech-protection intent intent-standard reckless-speech recklessness true-threats virginia-v-black | Whether the First Amendment prohibits a State from criminalizing threats to commit violence communicated in reckless disregard of the risk of placing … |
| 20-5597 | Rory Swenson v. Illinois | Illinois | 2020-09-04 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-law first-amendment free-speech intent intent-standard listener-perception speech-protection true-threat true-threats virginia-v-black | May speech that does not contain any expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence be criminalized as a "true threat" unprotected by t… |
| 19-1370 | Kimberley Thames v. City of Westland, Michigan, et al. | Sixth Circuit | 2020-06-12 | Denied | abortions brandenburg-test criminal-threat first-amendment free-speech monell-claim municipal-liability naacp-v-claiborne-hardware qualified-immunity true-threats westland | 1. Did Petitioner's arrest and subsequent detention based on her speech violate her clearly established rights as set forth in Watts v. United States,… | |
| 19-6761 | Younes Kabbaj v. United States | Third Circuit | 2019-11-26 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 18-usc-115 18-usc-875 apprendi-v-new-jersey constitutional-vagueness crime-of-violence elonis-v-united-states first-amendment first-amendment-free-speech sixth-amendment statutory-interpretation subjective-intent true-threat true-threats | It is a federal crime under both 18 U.S.C. §875 and §115 to threaten to injure the person (\.e. physical body) of another, yet not legally settled as… |
| 18-9662 | Mark Alan Lane v. Josias Salazar, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2019-06-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | bureau-of-prisons due-process first-amendment penological-interests prisoner-speech prisoners-rights procunier-v-martinez prohibited-act-code-203 true-threats void-for-vagueness | As construed to apply to statements in outgoing mail that are not true threats, is Prohibited Act Code 203 crafted so that its "limitation of First Am… |
| 18-949 | Jamal Knox v. Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania | 2019-01-22 | Denied | Amici (8)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | criminal-threat first-amendment free-speech reasonable-person speech-protection subjective-intent terroristic-threats true-threat true-threats | Under Watts v. United States, 394 U.S. 705 (1969) (per curiam), the First Amendment does not protect "true threats." Federal courts of appeals and sta… |
| 18-752 | Edward Taupier v. Connecticut | Connecticut | 2018-12-12 | Denied | Response Waived | civil-procedure criminal-law free-speech mens-rea negligence objective-standard recklessness scienter speech-act state-of-mind true-threats | The first question presented is: Whether in a prosecution for speech under the "true threats" doctrine an objective standard of mere recklessness is s… |
| 18-6348 | Eric M. Pence v. Illinois | Illinois | 2018-10-16 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-law criminal-prosecution criminal-statute disorderly-conduct due-process electronic-communication fighting-words first-amendment free-speech true-threat true-threats | This case presents an important question involving the application of the First Amendment to the Constitution to state disorderly conduct statutes pro… |