Comey indictment may fail under Supreme Court threat standard
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Apr 30
Comey indictment may fail under Supreme Court threat standard
13 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Apr 30
Legal analysts say prosecutors relied on a legal test the Supreme Court explicitly rejected in a 2015 opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
The case accuses former FBI director James B. Comey of threatening President Donald Trump, but the precedent distinguished true threats from protected speech.
If courts apply that ruling, the indictment could be weakened or dismissed, turning the case on whether Comey's words meet the constitutional threshold for a genuine threat.
How can prosecutors prove a seashell message was a 'true threat' under the Supreme Court's strict legal standard?