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Anthony Douglas Elonis: A Case Study

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Introduction Soon after a sudden separation from his wife, Anthony Douglas Elonis used the social networking site Facebook as a release for his frustration. Under the alias Tone Dougie, Elonis posted rap lyrics detailing the death of his wife and a federal agent; he also made posts alluding to the murder of a co-worker and the massacre of a kindergarten school. He was brought to the district court on 5 violations of 18 U.S.C. 875 that states, “Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both”. (U.S. Code, Title 18).

Case Details The case brought against Elonis was based on his online threats (which were the only …show more content…

Justice Thomas gave an opinion: “Lower courts are thus left to guess at the appropriate mental state… All they know after today’s decision is that a requirement of general intent will not do” (Thomas 2015). One relevant link to this case is cyber-bullying. Without a verbal acknowledgement of the act of threatening or witness accounts, threats via social networking are variably untouchable; in order to receive justice by threats, a prosecutor might have to find different violations other than the obvious threat.

Works Cited

"Elonis v. United States." SCOTUSblog. 2015. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.

"ELONIS V. UNITED STATES." Cornell Law. Ed. Cornell Law Institute. 2014. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.

"Elonis v. United States." Huffington Post. 2015. Web. 6 Nov. 2015.

J, Alito, and Thomas J. "Elonis V. United States." SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES (2015): 1-3. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.
Memeger, Zane. "Confronting First Amendment Challenges in Internet Stalking and Threat Cases." Offices of the United States Attorneys. 20 July 2015. Web. 9 Nov.

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