Columbus v. Fabich

Citations

• 166 N.E.3d 101
• 2020 Ohio 7011

Syllabus

The disorderly conduct ordinance, Columbus City Code Section 2317.11(A)(2), is not unconstitutional, as limited by Supreme Court of Ohio precedent, to fighting words. The n-word is a \fighting word\ when uttered by a white person to a black person in conjunction with other slavery-references such as \go back to the plantation.\ The City of Columbus's ethnic intimidation ordinance, Columbus City Code Section 2331.08, is facially constitutional. It is also constitutional as applied to a predicate offense of disorderly conduct based on fighting words, because it does not punish the content of fighting words, but instead punishes the biased motive or reason for the utterance without regard to the content of the words uttered.