Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to weigh state efforts to ban the racially charged practice of cross burning against the free speech rights of Ku Klux Klansmen or others who use the flaming cross as a symbol of intimidation.
The court will review a 50-year-old Virginia law outlawing cross burning, and its ruling could affect laws in about a dozen states. The ruling, expected next year, could clarify how far states may go to discourage a uniquely provocative practice endowed with some constitutional protection but rooted in violence and racial hatred.
The Virginia law was passed in reaction to Klan intimidation of blacks during the days of Jim Crow. Beatings or other violence sometimes accompanied a cross burning, or the cross might be left as a threat of future violence.
"It is important that Virginia have the ability to protect her citizens from this type of intimidation," said Jerry Kilgore, the state’s attorney general.
A state court struck down the law as unconstitutional last year, relying heavily on a Supreme Court case from 10 years ago, in which the court struck down a local hate crimes law in St. Paul., Minn., that criminalized cross-burning aimed at frightening or angering others "on the basis of race, color, creed or gender."
Courts in three states —Washington, California and Florida — have said the 1992 ruling does not apply to their laws.
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
