https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_president_of_the_United_States#Watts_v._United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_president_of_t

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_president_of_the_United_States#Watts_v._United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_president_of_t... It needs to something that a reasonable person who directly heard the speech would interpret as a “true threat” to a person or group. In the case above, the defendant made a claim that he was going to “set his sights on LBJ” if he was drafted and they “ever gave [him] a rifle”. He threatened to shoot a President of the US and his speech was found to be protected because of the qualification mentioned above. Two prior courts found him guilty and the Supreme Court reversed the decisions.