The Supreme Court Just Legalized Stalking

Mary Anne Franks, The Supreme Court Just Legalized Stalking, Slate

The Supreme Court majority describes its holding last week in Counterman v. Colorado as a vindication of the First Amendment and a principled defense of free speech. Indeed, influential civil libertarian organizations were quick to celebrate the decision. ACLU attorney Brian Hauss praised the court for guaranteeing that “inadvertently threatening speech cannot be criminalized” and for “provid[ing] essential breathing room for public debate.” ***

To be clear, the “freedom of speech” protected by the Counterman majority and valorized by civil libertarian organizations is the freedom to engage in objectively terrifying conduct that leads victims to withdraw from their professions, censor their communications, and restrict their movements. Given that the majority of stalkers are male and the majority of stalking victims are female, the thrust of the opinion can be put more bluntly: The First Amendment does not protect “speech,” but men’s speech at the expense of women’s speech; men’s delusions at the expense of women’s lives.