Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-138_43j7.pdf
Page Number: 40.0

Cite as:  600 U. S. ____ (2023) 

23 

SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring
Opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J. 

on its content alone.  This does not mean that unintention-
ally threatening communications are exempt from regula-
tion,  far  from  it.    As  explained  above,  there  are  far  fewer 
First Amendment concerns with stalking laws that punish
repeated,  targeted,  unwanted  conduct  and  accompanying 
speech.  For that reason, recklessness is quite sufficient.  As 
to true threats, intent is neither an unusual nor an insur-
mountable bar.  “[C]ourts and juries every day pass upon 
knowledge,  belief  and  intent  . . .  having  before  them  no 
more than evidence of . . . words and conduct, from which, 
in ordinary human experience, mental condition can be in-
ferred.”  American  Communications  Assn.  v.  Douds,  339 
U. S. 382, 411 (1950). 

* 

* 

* 
I agree with the Court’s conclusion that the First Amend-
ment requires a subjective mens rea in true-threats cases, 
and  I  also  agree  that  recklessness  is  amply  sufficient  for 
this case.  Yet I would stop there, leaving for another day
the question of the specific mens rea required to prosecute 
true threats generally.  If that question is reached, however,
the answer is that true threats encompass a narrow band 
of intentional threats.  Especially in a climate of intense po-
larization, it is dangerous to allow criminal prosecutions for
heated  words  based  solely  on  an  amorphous  recklessness
standard.  Our society has often concluded that an intent
standard sets a proper balance between safety and the need 
for a guilty mind, even in cases that do not involve the First 
Amendment.  Surely when the power of the State is called 
upon  to  imprison  someone  based  on  the  content  of  their 
words alone, this standard cannot be considered excessive. 
Because I part ways with the Court on this score, I respect-
fully concur only in part and in the judgment.