Former Democratic National Committee chair and presidential candidate Howard Dean earned the scorn of social media Thursday when he tweeted that hate speech is not covered by the First Amendment.
Dean was responding to a former New York Times reporter, who referenced a past comment made by conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
Hate speech is not protected by the first amendment. https://t.co/DOct3xcLoY
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 21, 2017
Dean's assertion is false: "hate speech" is fully protected in the United States under Supreme Court precedents such as Brandenburg v. Ohio and Snyder v. Phelps. The only hateful or bigoted speech that can be banned is incitement to "imminent lawless action" that poses an immediate threat.
Twitter users were quick to mock Dean.
@GovHowardDean This man ran for president.
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) April 21, 2017
@GovHowardDean Elaborate, please. This strikes me as pretty wrong.
— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) April 21, 2017
@TPCarney @GovHowardDean Dean is flatly wrong. https://t.co/Rqw8hB01H7
— Adam Steinbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh) April 21, 2017
@GovHowardDean Can you help me out and explain what things you would jail people for saying?
I assume nothing on the Democrat platform.— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) April 21, 2017
@GovHowardDean pic.twitter.com/UPFvU3IpA4
— neontaster (@neontaster) April 21, 2017
Good lord. https://t.co/l4F1RFjHG0
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 21, 2017
Go sell civic ignorance someplace else. We're all stocked up here.https://t.co/DBhMmdaGM8
— RobustPopehatAgenda (@Popehat) April 21, 2017
Of course it is. https://t.co/u7j9Wip4GQ
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) April 21, 2017
Show me where it says that. https://t.co/5QItQGWUcW
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) April 21, 2017
Perhaps the best smackdown came from the Washington Post's The Fix blog.
"What's the matter with Howard Dean?" asked reporter Aaron Blake.
Blake pointed out the "hate speech" tweet was just part of a longer trend of Dean tweeting questionable and erratic things. Most notably, Dean accused Donald Trump of using cocaine without presenting any evidence during the 2016 campaign.
Then on Wednesday, Dean somehow managed to endorse and then un-endorse a French presidential candidate in the span of four minutes.
I choose Macron, but Better far left than far right. Right are autocrats who don't believe in democracy. https://t.co/XZVQoRMtTV
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 19, 2017
Hmmmm. I may have to retract this. Just thought of Chavez/Maduro in Venezuela . A pox on Far anything. https://t.co/Ke0nmFdPJZ
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 19, 2017
"Dean would probably be better served by being more careful about weighing into the major political debates of the day. Or better yet, he might just want to #NeverTweet," Blake concluded.