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High court to review cross burning bans

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to rule on whether a Virginia law banning cross burnings is an unconstitutional violation of free speech.

The justices will likely hear arguments in the highly emotional case this fall, and rule early next year.

The State of Virginia has appealed a lower court ruling which struck down a statute prohibiting the burning of crosses in acts designed to intimidate others. Although the legislature in Richmond passed the law in response to the practice historically linked with Ku Klux Klan members, the law makes no specific reference to racial hatred.

The high court in 1992 struck down as a violation of free speech a St. Paul, Minnesota, ordinance that banned cross burnings aimed at individuals on the basis of race, religion or national origin.

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Virginia claims its law is different because it bans cross burning by anyone who intends to intimidate anyone else, without regard to their race or national origin.

The case, Virginia vs. Barry Black, 01-1107, involves three defendants whose convictions for cross burning were overturned by lower federal courts for violating the First Amendment.

Black, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and two others were convicted and sentenced to three months in jail for participating in cross burnings.

Several states have laws prohibiting cross burning.

The American Civil Liberties Union has successfully represented the cross burners, as it previously represented people who display Nazi swastikas, saying they are entitled to express their political views, no matter how distasteful.