Virginia v. Barry Elton Black, Richard J. Elliott, and Jonathan O'mara (538 U.S. 343)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 7, 2003 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 538 U.S. 343 · 123 S. Ct. 1536
- Decided
- April 7, 2003
- Term
- October Term 2002
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, and III, and an opinion with respect to Parts IV and V, in which The Chief Justice, Justice Stevens, and Justice Breyer join. In this case we consider whether the Commonwealth of Virginia’s statute banning cross burning with “an intent to intimidate a person or group of persons” violates the First Amendment. Va. Code Ann. §18.2-423 (1996). We conclude that while a State, consistent with the First Amendment, may ban cross burning carried out with the intent to intimidate, the provision in the Virginia statute treating any cross burning as prima facie evidence of intent to intimidate renders the statute unconstitutional in its current form. I Respondents Barry Black, Richard Elliott, and Jonathan O’Mara were convicted separately of violating Virginia’s cross-burning statute, § 18.2-423. That statute provides: “It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons, to burn, or cause to be burned, a cross on the property of another, a highway or other public place. Any person who shall violate any provision of this section shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony. “Any such burning of a cross shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to intimidate a person or group of persons.” On August 22, 1998, Barry Black…
Excerpt of a 40,832-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.