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A Raised Middle Finger Is Protected Free Speech, Appeals Court Rules
New York Times ^

Posted on 03/18/2019 9:29:59 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

A Raised Middle Finger Is Protected Free Speech, Appeals Court Rules

By Jacey Fortin

March 18, 2019

A raised middle finger is a form of free speech, a court has ruled, allowing a lawsuit by a driver who made the vulgar gesture at a police officer.

The decision came from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last week, but it started with a spirited exchange in June 2017, when a woman gave the middle-finger salute to a police officer who had just written her a ticket.

The woman, Debra L. Cruise-Gulyas, had been driving over the speed limit in Taylor, Mich. At first, there was a small mercy, according to the opinion written by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton for a panel of three judges: The officer, Matthew W. Minard, wrote her a ticket for a non-moving violation, which is less serious than a typical speeding ticket.

Ms. Cruise-Gulyas was driving away when, “apparently ungrateful for the reduction, she made an all-too-familiar gesture at Minard with her hand and without four of her fingers showing,” the opinion added. “That did not make Minard happy.”

So he pulled her over again, the opinion said, and changed the ticket to reflect the more serious violation of speeding.

Those were two separate traffic stops — a key point in this case. The judges found that the first stop was justified because Ms. Cruise-Gulyas had committed an infraction. But they added that “any authority to seize her in connection with that infraction ended when the first stop concluded,” meaning that the second stop, apparently in response to nothing more than a vulgar gesture, was not justified.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: donutwatch
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Face palm............
1 posted on 03/18/2019 9:29:59 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

I guess the rest of won’t get reduced violations or warning tickets. Way to go lady. Here’s my finger!


2 posted on 03/18/2019 9:32:38 AM PDT by TStro (Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6)
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To: Sub-Driver

Freepers from New Jersey knew this already.


3 posted on 03/18/2019 9:32:52 AM PDT by frogjerk (We are conservatives. Not libertarians, not "fiscal conservatives", not moderates)
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To: TStro

Seriously? That’s your take-away from this?


4 posted on 03/18/2019 9:33:55 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("The rat always knows when he's in with weasels."--Tom Waits)
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....but if you put a miniature hijab
on the tip of that finger you could be shot


5 posted on 03/18/2019 9:36:09 AM PDT by Doogle (( USAF.68-73....8th TFW Ubon Thailand....never store a threat you should have eliminated)))
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To: Sub-Driver; All

Raise your middle finger at a judge and see what happens.


6 posted on 03/18/2019 9:36:15 AM PDT by Amendment10
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To: Sub-Driver

I might have known. Giving the finger to a cop is allowed in NY. Wanna bet if you do that to a protected minority you’ll go right to jail?


7 posted on 03/18/2019 9:37:22 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Lying Media: willing and eager allies of the hate-America left.)
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To: frogjerk

I always thought that is how they said “hi!” in the dirty jersey..


8 posted on 03/18/2019 9:37:44 AM PDT by cableguymn (We need a redneck in the white house....)
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To: I want the USA back

Or just use the n-word instead. You’ll get the gas chamber.


9 posted on 03/18/2019 9:48:43 AM PDT by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: Sub-Driver
Eat this, Appeals Court!


10 posted on 03/18/2019 9:49:05 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: TStro

He should have given her a broken finger in lieu of a ticket.


11 posted on 03/18/2019 9:54:39 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Sub-Driver

The Bird is free to use. Groovy.

But Heaven’s to Betsy if you wear a hat that reads “Make America Great Again”.

You’d be sent to the Gulag.


12 posted on 03/18/2019 9:55:48 AM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
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To: Sub-Driver

SOCTUS ruled this to be protected speech along time ago and yet the states and LEO still
bring charges.


13 posted on 03/18/2019 10:00:48 AM PDT by stylin19a (2016 - Best.Election.Of.All.Times.Ever.In.The.History.Of.Ever)
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To: TStro

That’s some logic you’re slinging around there!


14 posted on 03/18/2019 10:04:05 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: TStro

“Flipping the bird” may be free speech, but it is pretty shabby speech too. “Inarticulate” is not merely a handicap of the tongue, it extends to body language as well, and relates back to poor organization of thought patterns.


15 posted on 03/18/2019 10:06:00 AM PDT by alloysteel (Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. George Carlin)
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To: Sub-Driver

it may be ‘protected speech’ but just try it and enjoy being harassed by police for well, forever- They have your license plate number name and address don’t forget- and will likely issue an APB to watch out for so and so- pull over the vehicle, make sure everything is legal- etc-


16 posted on 03/18/2019 10:06:51 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Sub-Driver

Why wouldn’t “the bird” be considered a “fighting word”?

“Fighting words are, as first defined by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in Chaplinsky v New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), words which “by their very utterance, inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.”” (www.law.cornell.edu.)


17 posted on 03/18/2019 10:22:58 AM PDT by ryderann
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To: Bob434

“it may be ‘protected speech’ but just try it and enjoy being harassed by police for well, forever- They have your license plate number name and address don’t forget- and will likely issue an APB to watch out for so and so- pull over the vehicle, make sure everything is legal- etc-”

Yet the law is that this is protected speech therefore if the police don’t like it then they need to get another job instead of enforcing personal vendettas.


18 posted on 03/18/2019 11:02:31 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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To: MeganC

yeah good luck with getting them to agree with you


19 posted on 03/18/2019 11:07:41 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Bob434

Then they’re just another armed gang and they need to be removed, don’t they?

Sorry, but if this is the law then either they stop breaking the law or get another job. There is no wiggle room in here just because they have badges and wear costumes.


20 posted on 03/18/2019 11:12:13 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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