The use of the most common swear words here angered a policeman, who quietly asked the judge if it was possible to arrest Cohen for contempt of court. When the judge told the police officer that it was not, the police officer handed it over to himself and arrested Cohen the moment he left the court. Accusation? Disturb the peace. Ironically, advocating peace in a peaceful way. ...
Cohen was later sentenced to 30 days in prison. Naturally, he was dissatisfied with all this, so he appealed the decision. The case will eventually be appealed to the Supreme Court, which made a landmark ruling on Cohen v. California on June 7, 197 1.
The American Civil Liberties Union admitted that if the case was filed and overturned, it might set a precedent, so it quickly agreed to defend Cohen and asked Melville Nimmer, a law professor at the University of California, to defend him. He is one of the most important first amendment experts in the United States, and humorously said:
One of Nemo's key strategies in defending Cohen in court is to use the word "fuck" as much as possible at every stage of the game to weaken the argument that the word itself is offensive.
At this time, when Nemo first appeared before Chief Justice warren burger of the Supreme Court, in order to prevent Nemo from saying "Fuck" in the most sacred court, he clearly told Nemo, "Lawyer, we are familiar with the facts of this case. You can give them up and go straight to your legal debate.
Nemo replied, "Of course, my Lord. I can say that my client was convicted of disturbing the peace by wearing a jacket with the words "Fuck the money order" printed on it in public.
This word and his frequent use of this word finally made some judges a little annoyed with him, and these judges themselves chose euphemism. As for Hamburg, he continued to call it a case of "messing up the draft", otherwise he would call the offensive curse "that word" instead of saying it.
Christopher Fei Erman, a law professor, later wrote down Nemo's choice here.
Nemo is convinced that he must use "fuck". "In his oral debate, this is not a euphemism. If Tony says the word "burger taboo" silently, he will admit that some places should not say "fuck", such as the sacred court. This case should have been lost.
As for his actual legal arguments, Nemo said that the template on the jacket belongs to the umbrella of speech and is therefore protected by the Constitution. He went on to point out that contrary to the charges of disturbing the peace, the jacket itself did not directly offend the public, and if people didn't like the contents of the jacket, they could easily divert their attention. Nimer also pointed out that the wording of the statement neither targeted any specific group nor incited violence. Besides, for Cohen, there is no record that he said or did anything except walk quietly when he was arrested for disturbing the peace.
Finally, after more than three years of legal arguments, the Supreme Court finally heard the case. They finally agreed with Nimmer in the 5-4 ruling, finally solved Cohen v. California and wrote the public's right to use the word "fuck" into American law. Even in open court, it is more helpful to clarify all aspects of the First Amendment. He was drunk. "I didn't see the words on the jacket until I had to testify on behalf of an acquaintance in the morning. I used to be a patriotic person.
If you like this article, you may also like our new popular podcast BrainFood (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), and:
Why is the person behind the story called "Charlie" in the famous "Saigon execution" photo? Why do judges wear robes? The story behind "America v Paramount" and "How the movie franchise became so expensive" Miranda warned Cohen v. California Cohen v. California Cohen v. California fucking draft John Marshall Harlan II Cohen v. California fucking draft won Cohen v. California Whatever happened to Cohen, fuck it, we hate Melville Nemo's freedom of case.