ABSTRACT
In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 US 377, the US Supreme Court examined a Saint Paul, Minnesota, hate-speech ordinance that banned the use of Nazi swastikas, burning crosses, and similar symbols to arouse fear or anger on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, or gender. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the ordinance represented what is called "viewpoint discrimination." In the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the ordinance was unconstitutional because it banned the offensive symbols only when used by the proponents of racial hatred but not by other groups. Additionally, the Supreme Court has permitted states to punish criminal acts like assault that are motivated by racial hatred more harshly than others, treating them differently from words that insult. In Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 US 476, the Court upheld the constitutionality of a Wisconsin hate-crime act that allowed for stricter punishments if a criminal act was motivated by bias.
