Throwing someone in jail for badmouthing a public official is profoundly undemocratic and un-American. But that didn’t stop police from arresting Robert Frese after he insulted them on Facebook. New Hampshire’s criminal libel law makes it a misdemeanor to say or write anything that you know is false and that will expose someone to “public hatred, contempt or ridicule.” According to the local police department, Frese violated this law when he posted a Facebook comment calling an officer a “coward” who was “covering up for a corrupt cop.” Unfortunately, more than a dozen states still maintain speech-chilling criminal libel laws like New Hampshire’s that are too frequently used to punish those who criticize government officials. So on April 27, 2023, FIRE filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States asking it to hear Frese’s case and finally rid the country of archaic laws that criminalize libel of public officials.
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