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Knight Riders of the Ku Klux Klan v. City of Cincinnati

72 F.3d 43, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 36548 (6th Cir. 1995)

Copyright Notice


A cross erected by the Knight Riders of the Ku Klux Klan in a public park, bearing the words "John 3:16," is not fighting words....

Fighting words is a small class of expressive conduct that is likely to provoke the average person to retaliate, and thereby cause a breach of thepeace. In other words, if a reasonable onlooker would regard the expressive conduct "as a direct personal insult or an invitation to exchange fisticuffs," it is not entitled to First Amendment protection.... In determining whether plaintiffs' cross constitutes fighting words, we are required to consider carefully the actual circumstances surrounding its display and ask whether "the expression 'is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.'"


The full text of the decision is available from Lexis. You might want to check the Sixth Circuit online as well.

It is available on paper in the UO Law Library. If you want or need to read the entire case, the hard copy case reporter is the most efficient format. You can read the case much faster in hard copy and the walk to the library will be good for you.

 

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