Federal Court Affirms Constitutional Right To Give Cops The Middle Finger

Via the Huffington Post, the most cherished of liberties has been defended. Use it freely and often:

A police officer can’t pull you over and arrest you just because you gave him the finger, a federal appeals court declared Thursday. In a 14-page opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that the “gesture…is not the basis for a reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation or impending criminal activity.”

John Swartz and his wife Judy Mayton-Swartz had sued two police officers who arrested Swartz in May 2006 after he flipped off an officer who was using a radar device at an intersection in St. Johnsville, N.Y. Swartz was later charged with a violation of New York’s disorderly conduct statute.

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  • InfvoCuernos

    still not advised.

    • Matt Staggs

      “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

      • Kevin Leonard

        I am itching to test it, though.

        • Ted Heistman

          Step One: Try it out

          Step two: Go to Jail

          Step Three: Get assigned a Lawyer

          Step four: tell him to google disinformation and find this article so as to use it as a precedence in your legal defense

          Good Plan!

          • Kevin Leonard

            Step Five: ****

            Step Six: Profit!

            Sometimes I really like the way you think, Ted.

          • Ted Heistman

            twisted minds think alike!

  • BuzzCoastin

    I know my rights man.
    You don’t know shit, Lebowski.
    I want a fucking lawyer, man. I want Bill Kunstler man…or umm, or Ronald Kuby.
    You don’t draw shit Lebowski. Now we got a nice quiet little beach community here, and I aim to keep it nice and quiet. So let me make something plain. I don’t like you sucking around bothering our citizens, Lebowski. I don’t like your jerk-off name, I don’t like your jerk-off face, I don’t like your jerk-off behavior, and I don’t like you, jerk-off. Do I make myself clear?
    I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening.
    –Ow! Fucking fascist!
    Awwwwwuh!

  • jrt600

    Funny how these kinds of freedom of speech cases tend to arise in liberal leaning New York rather than the conservative South. Really makes you question the value such states put on free speech, especially when they pursue such cases through the legal system rather than just dismiss the ticket in the first place.