Area Man Defends the Rights of Satirists: The Onion’s Headline-Grabbing Amicus Brief Defends the Right to Deadpan Parody

The Onion not long ago submitted a headline-grabbing amicus quick intended to defend the legal rights of Ohio beginner satirist Anthony Novak. Novak made the “City of Parma Law enforcement Department” Facebook account, admittedly to training his “fundamental American right” of “[m]ocking our government officers.” His posts to the account bundled mock commercials for a “Pedophile Reform event” and a method supposed to starve the homeless to motivate them to leave the location. Quickly following, the law enforcement office acquired a search warrant, seized his telephone and notebook, and arrested Novak for disrupting police features.

Novak was acquitted and brought a lawsuit towards the City of Parma and numerous of its officers. The officers have been granted capable immunity, and the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Novak appealed the case to the Sixth Circuit.

The Sixth Circuit mentioned that it is a “difficult question” to figure out whether or not the Facebook page was secured speech or the unprotected impersonation of the police. The court reported that affordable people, together with the officers in problem, could disagree about no matter if the speech was shielded, and for that reason certified immunity shields the officers who found possible result in to arrest Novak and look for his household. Novak petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari.

On Monday, The Onion waded into the fray to protect the rights of satirists everywhere. Proving that the medium is in reality, the concept, The Onion determined by itself as a print newspaper starting in 1756 with a readership of 4.3 trillion and supporting more than 350,000 journalism jobs across the world. It also claimed that it “owns and operates the bulk of the world’s transoceanic transport lanes, stands on the nation’s main edge on matters of deforestation and strip mining, and proudly conducts checks on millions of animals each day.”

In a self-explained “convoluted legal submitting meant to deconstruct the societal implications of parody,” The Onion argued that parody is guarded speech, and the Sixth Circuit impermissibly required a disclaimer of some type in buy to establish that the Fb account was in fact satire. The Sixth Circuit reasoned that, because Novak experienced deleted feedback disclosing the account as a parody, it was complicated to identify it as these kinds of. As The Onion points out, no other circuit has needed such a disclaimer, which would of training course render the parody moot. “Reasonable readers” do not require the spoiling of a superior punchline. Quoting Mark Twain, “The humorous story is instructed gravely the teller does his greatest to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it.” The Onion argues that no satirist really should be essential to discover their satire in get to stay clear of prospective jail time.

The circumstance is Novak v. Parma, Ohio, scenario range 22-293, in the Supreme Court of the United States. You can access The Onion’s short right here.