the first amendment in a time of crisis

[Stephen Siegel]

While we are on this subject, I am curious about responses to the fact
that even before Sept. 11 people were subject to arrest and prosecution
for making jokes at airport security checkpoints about having bombs or
other destructive devices in their carry-on luggage etc.  I believe that
in Chicago this was done under a general statute criminalizing "causing
a public nuisance."  Because these jokes strike me as somewhat short
of shouting fire in a crowded theater, I have been puzzeled the basis for
sanctioning them.

Stephen Siegel
DePaul University College of Law