RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN UTAH LAW: F. Standing Requirements for a First Amendment Challenge to the Utah Hate-Crimes Statute
In: Utah Law Review, Jg. 2004 (2004), S. 261
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1. Introduction In Ward v. Utah, 1 the Tenth Circuit addressed the question of whether a party has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Utah hate-crimes statute 2 on the basis that the statute violates an individual's First Amendment rights when it inhibits or chills the lawful expression of political views or creates a fear of prosecution. According to the hate-crimes statute, a person who commits an underlying primary offense with the intent to intimidate or terrorize another person may have the primary offense raised from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony. 3 The State argued that a person who engages in or intends to engage in lawful protest, demonstration, or otherwise protected free speech does not have standing to challenge the statute because he or she does not suffer any probable threat of being charged with an offense triggering the hate-crimes statute. 4 The state also argued that the hate-crimes statute does not function as a deterrent to a person's desire or intent to lawfully exercise his or her First Amendment rights. 5 The court, however, held that a party does have standing to challenge the hate-crimes statute when he or she faces a credible threat of prosecution under the statute and thus suffers the continual injury of having his or her First Amendment rights inhibited or chilled. 6 To hold otherwise would mean a person might be dissuaded from exercising his or her free speech rights out of fear of being charged with an ...
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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN UTAH LAW: F. Standing Requirements for a First Amendment Challenge to the Utah Hate-Crimes Statute
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Zeitschrift: | Utah Law Review, Jg. 2004 (2004), S. 261 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2004 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
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