Letter to the Editor: Judicial Injustice in Kimberlin Case

Robert Knight’s discussion of the harassment faced by conservative critics of Brett Kimberlin, the convicted “Speedway Bomber,” was spot on, as was his mention of the arrest of Aaron Walker in Maryland for blogging about Kimberlin (“Leftist assault on free speech and conscience,” Commentary, Monday).

In ordering Mr. Walker’s arrest, court officials in Montgomery County exhibited utter contempt for the Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court rulings. Repeatedly blogging against a public figure such as Kimberlin is protected by the Constitution under court rulings such as U.S. v. Cassidy.

Judge C.J. Vaughey issued a restraining order against Mr. Walker based on the blogger’s constitutionally protected speech. At the court hearing, the judge warned Mr. Walker not to blog about Kimberlin for the next six months, complaining that Mr. Walker’s blog posts had incited public hostility toward Kimberlin. When Mr. Walker pointed out that the Supreme Court’s Brandenburg ruling protected his blog posts about Kimberlin even if outraged readers reacted to them by expressing hostility or threats toward Kimberlin, the judge contemptuously told him, “Forget Brandenburg.”