While
watching the World Series, many fans get emotionally swept up in the games.
Many people also post their thoughts about the baseball games to social media,
such as Twitter. This World Series season has led to the arrest of a St. Louis
native whose tweets have been interpreted as bomb threats. Two tweets written
by Robert Metzinger led to his arrest. In one, he said, “Putting my loft up for
a ridiculous “Boston-only” rate for the #WorldSeries. Pressure cooker sold
separately.” In the second, Metzinger tweeted the following: “The #WorldSeries
will be another finish line not crossed by #Boston.” In both of these tweets,
Metzinger makes reference to the Boston Marathon bombing that took place
earlier this year. Because media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing was so
widespread, most citizens reading these tweets would quickly understand what
Metzinger is implying when he discusses a “pressure cooker” and a “finish line
not crossed.” For these tweets, Robert Metzinger has been arrested and charged
with making a terrorist threat.
While
I believe Metzinger’s tweets to be crass and uncalled for, I do not believe he
will be convicted for his speech. Because of the nature of Metzinger’s tweets,
his speech does not, in my opinion, meet the Brandenburg test. As we discussed
earlier this year, in Brandenburg v. Ohio,
the Supreme Court ruled that a threat must call for imminent lawless action in
order to be unprotected speech. In Metzinger’s tweets, he does not do those
things. Metzinger does not directly call or for threaten any specific action;
he merely makes jokes in bad humor. It is nearly impossible for me to see a way
that Robert Metzinger would be convicted.
One
argument that could be made for Metzinger’s conviction is that terrorist
threats of all kinds must be taken seriously during wartime and in light of
recent terrorist-caused tragedies. Because the United States is currently
involved in countries in the Middle East whose citizens have previously wreaked
havoc on the U.S. through terrorism, it is our duty now to take any semblance
of a threat seriously. In addition, due to the fact that the Boston Marathon
bombing took place very recently and in the home city of the Boston Red Sox,
police officials must keep any potential threats at bay. However, in my opinion,
Metzinger’s insensitive speech does not qualify as a true threat under the
Brandenburg standard. Because of this, I believe Robert Metzinger should not be
convicted for his speech.
