Threatening the president of the United States information
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Threatening the president of the United States is a federal felony under United States Code Title 18, Section 871.[1][2][3][4] It consists of knowingly and willfully mailing or otherwise making "any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict great bodily harm upon the president of the United States". The law also includes presidential candidates, vice presidents, and former presidents. The Secret Service investigates suspected violations of this law and monitors those who have a history of threatening the president. Threatening the president is considered a political offense.[5] Immigrants who commit this crime can be deported.[6]
Because the offense consists of pure speech, the courts have issued rulings attempting to balance the government's interest in protecting the president with free speech rights under the First Amendment. According to the book Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures, "Hundreds of celebrity howlers threaten the president of the United States every year, sometimes because they disagree with his policies, but more often just because he is the president."[7]
The prototype for Section 871 was the English Treason Act 1351, which made it a crime to "compass or imagine" the death of the King. Convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 871 have been sustained for declaring that "President Wilson ought to be killed. It is a wonder some one has not done it already. If I had an opportunity, I would do it myself";[8] and for declaring that "Wilson is a wooden-headed son of a bitch. I wish Wilson was in hell, and if I had the power I would put him there."[9] In a later era, a conviction was sustained for displaying posters urging passersby to "hang [President] Roosevelt".[10]
There has been some controversy among the federal appellate courts as to how the term "willfully" should be interpreted. Traditional legal interpretations of the term are reflected by Black's Law Dictionary's definition, which includes descriptions such as "malicious, done with evil intent, or with a bad motive or purpose," but most courts have adopted a more easily proven standard. For instance, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a threat was knowingly made if the speaker comprehended the meaning of the words uttered by him or her. It was willingly made if, in addition to comprehending the words' meaning, the speaker voluntarily and intentionally uttered them as a declaration of apparent determination to carry them into execution.[11] According to the 2018 U.S. Attorney's Manual, "Of the individuals who come to the Secret Service's attention as creating a possible danger to one of their protectees, approximately 75 percent are mentally ill."[12]
^United States. Supreme Court; Walter Malins Rose (1970). United States Supreme Court Reports. LEXIS Law Pub. p. 665. Retrieved 25 July 2017. 18 USC § 871(a), making it a felony to knowingly and wilfully threaten the President of the United States, initially requires the government to prove a true "threat.
^18 U.S.C. § 871
^"U.S.C. Title 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE". www.gpo.gov. Retrieved 2015-08-07.
^"18 U.S. Code § 3559 - Sentencing classification of offenses | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute". www.law.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-07.
^Million, Elmer M. (April 1940). "Political Crimes". Missouri Law Review. 5 (2).
^8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(D)(ii)
^Meloy, J. Reid; Sheridan, Lorraine; Hoffman, Jens (2008). Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures: A Psychological and Behavioral Analysis. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532638-3.
^Cite error: The named reference Stickrath was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Clark v. United States, 250 F. 449 (C. A. 5th Cir. 1918).
^United States v. Apel, 44 F. Supp. 592, 593 (D.C. N. D. Ill. 1942).)
^Ragansky v. United States, 253 F 643, 645 (CA7 Ill 1918) ("A threat is knowingly made, if the maker of it comprehends the meaning of the words uttered by him; a foreigner, ignorant of the English language, repeating these same words without knowledge of their meaning, may not knowingly have made a threat. And a threat is willfully made, if in addition to comprehending the meaning of his words, the maker voluntarily and intentionally utters them as the declaration of an apparent determination to carry them into execution.").
^USAM Chapter 9-65.140, 19 February 2015, archived from the original on November 29, 2019
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