SALT LAKE CITY — The passengers who harassed Utah Sen. Mitt Romney at Salt Lake City International Airport have been placed on a No-Fly list by Delta Air Lines, The Hill reports.
The Airline has confirmed to multiple other news media outlets as well that the report was true.
Romney was waiting to board a flight to Washington, D.C. to vote on the Electoral College certification last week when supporters of President Trump began screaming at him.
"Why aren't you supporting President Trump?" one woman asks. Romney responded that he does agree with "many of things he is for," and he supports Trump on those.
"Are you going to support him in the fraudulent votes?" she asked, to which Romney responded that he will not.
Video posted to social media showed the harassment continued on the flight with passengers chanting "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!" over and over.
Romney had previously said that he would vote to confirm the election of President-elect Joe Biden.
Passengers who harassed South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in a separate incident have also been added to the No-Fly list.
FOX13 reached out to Delta for clarification on the general reasons a passenger might be banned or removed from a flight to which they responded in a statement saying:
“Passenger safety and security is Delta’s primary concern, and we expect civility from all of our passengers on every flight. Any action that does not support our policies or crew’s ability perform their duties can result in passengers being removed from flight and/or placed on a “No Fly” list.”
FOX13 reached out to Amos Guiora, a Law Professor at the S. J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah who is a First amendment expert, counter terrorism expert and as authored multiple books.
“I’m a firm believer in free speech… but I am also a firm believer in limiting free speech” Guiora says “The problem with their behavior on the plane when they were yelling traitor traitor… the distance between 5 people and 10 people yelling traitor traitor and then someone taking it to the next step and perhaps becoming violent with senator Romney who I understand travels with out a security detail, its a fine line.”
FOX13 asked Guiora what are the presidents and is there a rule of law written down when it comes to the first amendment too which he responded that’s a complicated question.
“The easy answer” he says is looking to the 1969 Supreme Court decision Brandenberg V. Ohio 395 U.S. 444 which stated Freedom of speech shall not be infringed unless "...directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action”
The case having to do with a Ku Klux Klan leader Clarence Brandenburg speaking at a rally in which he threatened several different groups and thereby establishing what precedence is today when talking about limitations on freedom of speech.
“In the first grade you were taught the sanctity of the first amendment…” Guiora says “but it is absolutely fluid.”
Which is even more prominent now with stories in the news like the suspension of President Trumps Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube as well as the deletion of the app Parler from Apple, Google and now amazon.
So when asked the question how far does freedom of speech go Guiora pointed out many people have many different opinions on the topic, even high level law professors like himself.
“look at Parler what amazon decides to do with Parler this is a clear first amendment issue there” he says “particularly with respect to social media has changed the first amendment discussion.”
