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Would it be legal for me to hold up this sign in front of the White House, the Capitol, or the SCOTUS building?

MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN

Trish
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danny
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1 Answers1

7

Yes

The case you want to know about is Cohen v. California: A young man was arrested for wearing a jacket with the words "Fuck the Draft" and SCOTUS decided, that that was First Amendment-protected speech and the arrest illegal.

The phrase מנא מנא תקל ופרסין is in Akkadian or Aramaic language but Hebrew script (as opposed to the Akkadian Cuneiform) and can be transcribed as Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin. It is also known in German as "Menetekel" or in English as the "Writing on the wall". It stems from the biblical episode of Belshazzar's feast. Literally, the text would be read as "counted, counted, weighed, distributed". Its meaning elaborated in Daniel 5 is generally understood as "Your days are numbered; Your days are numbered; You have been measured and found wanting; Your kingdom will fall and be divided". While stemming from religious texts, in the depicted situation it is more likely meant as political speech, and in that fashion indistinguishable from a flag.

It also does not call for imminent lawless action - the so-called Brandenburg Test after Brandenburg v Ohio - and thus remains in the protected speech area. Remember, that even preaching genocide can be First amendment protected, as long as that line of imminent lawless action is not overstepped.

As this phrase does neither, it is protected speech.

Trish
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    Menetekel is a German word. It is not used in English nor as far as I can tell in any other language. The original phrase is Aramaic, not Hebrew. – phoog Apr 13 '23 at 14:12
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    @phoog Akkadian with Hebrew script as far as I can tell. – Trish Apr 13 '23 at 14:45
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    @trish, how do you determine that the language is Akkadian? – user6726 Apr 13 '23 at 14:52
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    @user6726 conflicting research papers... some say Akkadian, others say aramaic. – Trish Apr 13 '23 at 14:54
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    But your answer asserts that it is Akkadian, though Akkadian does not have lenition of p to ph as Aramaic and Hebrew do. – user6726 Apr 13 '23 at 14:59
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    @user6726 Evangelia G. Dafni wrote in a 2009 report that it was Aramaic; Dr. John E. Curtis claimed it is a misreading of weights "minas minas shekel peres [half-mina]" and in another text, I spied it claimed Akkadian, possibly based on that was the language of Babylon - but would be written in cuneiform – Trish Apr 13 '23 at 15:00
  • Strong's Concordance Hebrew dictionary says it's Chaldean. – Someone Apr 13 '23 at 17:33
  • Could the phrase be seen as a threat? It definitely met the legal definition of a threat in its original use. – Someone Apr 14 '23 at 05:02
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    @Someone unless you stand in front of an army and on the corpses of the secret service, I doubt it. – Trish Apr 14 '23 at 07:55