Before becoming co-host of CNN’s “New Day,” Chris Cuomo served as ABC’s chief law and justice correspondent and obtained a law degree from Fordham. But apparently, he needs to brush up on his First Amendment case law. (VIDEO: CNN Host Blames Military Veterans For Baltimore Riots)
When prompted on Twitter, Cuomo said that hate speech was not protected by the Constitution.
@tchest1973 @benfergusonshow @NewDay @marclamonthill @ChrisCuomo too many people are trying to say hate speech == free speech
— Brett MacDonald (@TweetBrettMac) May 6, 2015
it doesn't. hate speech is excluded from protection. dont just say you love the constitution…read it https://t.co/znZJ8cPvpX
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) May 6, 2015
Cuomo is entirely wrong. First, there is nothing in the text of the Constitution that says hate speech is not protected. The text of the First Amendment simply reads “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.” Any restrictions on that right stem from case law, not the text.
In any case, the Supreme Court has ruled over, and over, and over again that hate speech is protected speech. But Cuomo doubled down, by childishly tweeting over and over again the word “Chaplinsky” :
“@BenK84: Can you cite for me where hate speech is banned in the constitution? Please. Cite the exact text.” Chaplinsky bans fighting words
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) May 6, 2015
@EdMorrissey I will keep saying one word: chaplinsky
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) May 6, 2015
“@FilmLadd: Apparently @ChrisCuomo missed the "dumbass speech prohibition" in the Constitution, too.” Chaplinsky. Now shut up
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) May 6, 2015
But again, Cuomo is wrong. The Court ruled unanimously in Chaplinksy v. New Hampshire that “fighting words” — not hate speech — are not constitutionally protected. That isn’t a technical difference; they are completely different things. (RELATED: NPR’s Ombudsman Is A Drooling Moron Who Doesn’t Understand The First Amendment)
Fighting words are words that are intended to or are very likely to incite violence or inflict violence. Getting in a drunk patron’s face, flipping the bird and singing “Hail to the Victors” in an Ohio State bar might be fighting words … but it isn’t hate speech. Spreading anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial on the Internet might be hate speech, but they aren’t illegal “fighting words.”
Finally, Cuomo tweeted the following:
For last time (today), I didn't mean the language of 1A, I meant the case law. And hate speech has been protected except for fighting words.
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) May 6, 2015
…which is almost literally the exact opposite of what his initial tweet said.
it doesn't. hate speech is excluded from protection. dont just say you love the constitution…read it https://t.co/znZJ8cPvpX
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) May 6, 2015
