Judge Upholds Anti-Swearing Law
STANDISH, Mich. (AP) -- A judge Monday upheld an 1897 Michigan law against
cursing in front of children and ordered a man who let loose with a stream of
profanities after falling out of a canoe to stand trial.
The ruling came in the case of Timothy Boomer, 24.
``If Mr. Boomer's words, when used as they were, were constitutionally
protected speech, then a person could stand on a crowded public beach and
shout those same words all day,'' County Judge Allen C. Yenior ruled.
``This cannot be what the framers of the Constitution and the First Amendment
intended to protect.''
A sheriff's deputy said he heard Boomer explode in a three-minute barrage of
profanity after the mishap on the Rifle River last summer. A woman and her two
young children were nearby.
Boomer could get up to 90 days in jail and a $100 fine if convicted. His trial
was set for Feb. 25.
Boomer insisted his words have been exaggerated. He and the American Civil
Liberties Union say the law violates the right to free speech.
Yenior ruled that what Boomer allegedly uttered did not meet the U.S. Supreme
Court's definition of obscenity, but they could constitute ``fighting words,''
which the court has ruled lack constitutional protection.
The court has granted wide protection to speech, but those rulings have come
in cases where the words conveyed ideas or thoughts about matters such as the
military draft or abortion, Yenior wrote.
``Mr. Boomer's words were without any socially redeeming quality whatsoever,''
Yenior wrote. ``The First Amendment suffers no damage here by taking a
backseat to the compelling interest in the morality of our children.''
