D.C. Stalking Law Upheld But Narrowed in Free Speech Challenge

The District of Columbia’s stalking statute, which bars communications that cause “emotional distress,” doesn’t violate the free speech clause of the US Constitution, the city’s highest court ruled.

The law “restricts all manner of speech, without regard to its truth or falsity, and without regard to whether it is of public or purely private concern,” the en banc District of Columbia Court of Appeals said Thursday.

But the law survives because its savings clause states that it doesn’t apply “to constitutionally protected activity,” the court said in an opinion by Judge Joshua A. Deahl.

“To save the District’s stalking statute ...