A few months ago, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Harold Melton elicited chuckles by asking a Hall County solicitor—defending the disorderly conduct arrest of a man who raised the middle finger to a church pastor—whether “you always get one free bird, don’t you?”
In an opinion released Monday, Melton and his fellow justices ruled that yes, one does get to flip a “free bird”—so long as that gesture, rude though it may be, is not accompanied by “tumultuous” behavior sufficient to place its target in fear of bodily harm.
