The Arizona Supreme Court heard arguments at ASU's College of Law Thursday regarding a Tucson newspaper's right to publish inflammatory letters.
The Supreme Court hears oral arguments at Arizona's two university law schools, in Tempe and Tucson, twice a year to expose the public to the higher judicial process.
The majority of the audience was students.
Thursday's arguments were for the Tucson case Citizen Publishing Co. v. Pima County Sup. Ct./Hon. Leslie Miller.
Citizen Publishing is being sued by Tucson residents Aly W. Elleithee and Wali Yudeen S. Adbul Rahim for publishing a letter in 2003 on the editorial page in the Tucson Citizen that said, "whenever there is an assassination or another atrocity we should proceed to the closest mosque and execute five of the first Muslims we encounter."
The plaintiffs are suing for assault and the intentional infliction of emotional distress on behalf of all Islamic-Americans who are able to access the Tucson Citizen's Web site.
They claim the newspaper incited anti-Islamic violence by publishing the letter.
A trial court dismissed the assault charges last year, but ruled in favor of the plaintiff for the emotional distress charge.
The Citizen petitioned the Court of Appeals, was denied and took the case to the state Supreme Court.
David J. Bodney, representing the petitioner, told the court this was a First Amendment issue and the newspaper had the right to publish ideas no matter how offensive they are.
"This cries out for dismissal as a matter of law," he said.
There is a screening process for the editorial page, but even if that process failed in this case the newspaper's rights shouldn't be stripped, he said.
"Newspapers play a special role in society," he said.
Herbert Beigel, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the letter in question was not protected by the First Amendment because it endangered the lives of Muslims.
"The first amendment is not a license to ask people to kill," he said.
The letter wasn't randomly selected and the paper should be held responsible for that, he said. It's very likely this letter will lead to violence, he added.
"I fear for the consequences of a bad [court] decision," he said.
These were the last oral arguments to be heard for the case.
The court has yet to release its decision.
Reach the reporter at michael.famiglietti@asu.edu.
