Where Do We Draw the Line between Harassment and Free Speech: An Analysis of Hunter Harassment Law
![handle is hein.journals/anim3 and id is 139 raw text is: WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE BETWEEN HARASSMENT
AND FREE SPEECH?:
AN ANALYSIS OF HUNTER HARASSMENT LAW
By
KATHERiNE HESSLER*
L INTRODUCTION
This article examines the constitutionality of the Recreational Hunt-
ing Safety and Preservation Act of 1994,1 referred to as a hunter harass-
ment law, -and offers conclusions about the future direction of
constitutional analysis of laws regulating protests against hunting. At its
core, the article addresses the right to protest embodied in the First
Amendment, and specifically, the protection of symbolic speech as a
method of protest.
The article considers the new hunter harassment law as a response
to protests by the animal protection movement.- The uniqueness of hunt
protests presents new legal questions which make traditional constitu-
tional analysis incomplete and unsatisfactory. Hunt Protests combine
traditional and creative modes of speech with expressive conduct. This
combination presents analytical difficulties in establishing the line be-
tween permissible speech and impermissible conduct. In hunt protest
cases, the mere presence of a protester may inhibit the success of a
hunter, which achieves one of the protester's goals. This rare circum-
stance, where the means of the protest may secure the desired ends,
makes determining which conduct is protected free speech, and which is
not, a difficult constitutional question.
In other instances such as lunch counter sit-ins, where a combination
of traditional and creative methods of protest were tested, the actions of
protesters were not protected by the First Amendment.3 However, this
article suggests that courts should accord such protection to those who
protest hunting. The fundamental question here is: How Highly does soci-
* Assistant Professor, Capital University Law School; J.D. 1937, College of ,illiam and
Mary, Williamsburg, VA.
1 Pub. L No. 103-322, 108 Stat. 2121 (codified as amended at 16 U.S.C. §§ 5201-5207
(1994)).
2 There are significant distinctions between those who advocate for animal rights and
those who advocate for animal welfare. The term animal protection movement is intended
to describe both of these efforts.
3 See Garner v. Louisiana, 368 U.S. 157 (1961); but see Brown v. Louisiana, 383 US. 131
(1966).
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Where Do We Draw the Line between Harassment and Free Speech: An Analysis of Hunter Harassment Law
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