WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the stalking conviction of a Colorado man who claimed that thousands of unwanted Facebook messages he sent to a female musician were protected speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
The 7-2 decision vacated a lower court’s ruling that Billy Counterman’s messages to Denver singer-songwriter Coles Whalen were excluded from First Amendment protections for freedom of speech.