Virginia v. Black
United States Supreme Court
538 U.S. 343 (2003)
Barry Black (defendant) led a Ku Klux Klan rally in Virginia in 1998 that ended with participants burning a cross; Virginia charged Black under a statute making it illegal to burn a cross with intent to intimidate, which also provided that cross burning itself is prima facie evidence of that intent. At Black's trial, the court instructed the jury that the burning alone was sufficient evidence from which to infer the required intent, and the jury convicted him; the state appellate court affirmed, but the Virginia Supreme Court reversed and held the statute unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether a statute is unconstitutional if it both bans cross burning done with the intent to intimidate and states that the act of burning a cross is itself prima facie evidence of the intent to intimidate.