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By ALEX J. NICHOLSONPosted August 08, 2018 09:09:14A judge has said he believes the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to freedom of speech and assembly in North Carolina.
Richard A. Wood, a judge in the North Carolina Court of Appeals, made the comments in his opinion for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal on Monday, which was released to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Wood was responding to a petition filed by the ACLU of North Carolina asking the court to uphold the North Carolinian’s conviction for “fighting words” in a July 10 court hearing.
The judge cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2013 that the First and Four Amendments protect speech that “contradicts the established state policies of the United States.”
“The First Amendment protects freedom of association, which includes speech that challenges the established public policy of the State, the political class, and the police,” Wood wrote.
“The First and Fourth Amendments protect a person’s right to assemble, to petition the government for redress of grievances, and to assemble in public.
Those freedoms have been fully upheld by the U,S.
courts.”
Wood also cited the right of a person to speak freely in his court.
“It is not an empty claim,” he wrote.
