First Circuit Declares Puerto Rico's Emergency False-Alarm Law Unconstitutional

The First Circuit Court, joined by a Seventh Circuit judge, struck down Puerto Rico's Article 5.14(a) that criminalized knowingly false statements during declared emergencies, deeming it a violation of the First Amendment.

A three-judge panel of the First Circuit, including Judges Gustavo Gelpí and Seth Aframe, and joined by Seventh Circuit Judge David Hamilton, invalidated Puerto Rico's Article 5.14(a), which criminalized the dissemination of knowingly false warnings during a governor-declared emergency. The court classified the provision as content-based and concluded it did not satisfy the strict-scrutiny test required for such speech restrictions.

It emphasized that the law lacked narrow tailoring, did not demand proof of actual or likely harm, and used vague terms like “imminent risk,” potentially covering satire or unverified statements about mask efficacy or storm damage. Comparisons to the Model Penal Code’s Section 250.3 and the FCC’s Broadcast Hoaxes rule showed the Puerto Rican statute was far broader and less precise. The government failed to demonstrate a direct causal link between the speech restrictions and any specific safety interest, nor did it prove that counter-speech would be ineffective. Attorneys Brian Hauss, Tyler Takemoto, Scarlet Kim of the ACLU Foundation and Fermín L. Arraiza-Navas of the ACLU of Puerto Rico argued the case.