The concept of a “true threat” has consistently commanded the attention of legal scholars, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers.

Standard definitions describe a threat as a statement aiming to inflict harm or other hostile actions, often as a form of retribution. However, when this term crosses the threshold into the legal domain, it collides with First Amendment protections, making its interpretation far from straightforward. In its 2023 term, the U.S. Supreme Court sought to clarify this complex area of law with its decision in Counterman v. Colorado.¹