No. 22-558

Pedro Lance Soto v. Texas

Lower Court: Texas
Docketed: 2022-12-19
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: civil-rights constitutional-law criminal-law criminal-statute due-process electronic-communication first-amendment free-speech overbreadth overbreadth-doctrine
Key Terms:
FirstAmendment HabeasCorpus Privacy
Latest Conference: 2023-02-17
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Is a law that criminalizes expressive speech immunized from First Amendment scrutiny if it also criminalizes non-expressive conduct?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED A Texas statute criminalizes sending repeated electronic communications with the intent and likely result of “harassing, annoying, alarming, abusing, tormenting, embarrassing or offending” another. Because the law would be violated by the repeated sending of communications that contain no expressive content, such as a blank email, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that it “proscribes non-speech conduct” and does not implicate the First Amendment, even though the law would in most cases be violated by the repeated sending of expressive communications. The court thus rejected Petitioner’s facial overbreadth challenges to the criminal statute. The questions presented are: 1. Is a law that criminalizes expressive speech immunized from First Amendment scrutiny if it also criminalizes non-expressive conduct? 2. Is a law that punishes the repeated sending of electronic communications with intent and likely result to "harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend” another unconstitutionally overbroad? (ii)

Docket Entries

2023-02-21
Petition DENIED.
2023-01-25
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/17/2023.
2023-01-23
Waiver of right of respondent Texas to respond filed.
2022-12-13
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 18, 2023)

Attorneys

Pedro Lance Soto
Mark William Bennett — Petitioner
Mark William Bennett — Petitioner
Texas
Andrea L. WesterfeldEllis County & District Attorney, Respondent
Andrea L. WesterfeldEllis County & District Attorney, Respondent