F%@& that: Swearing no longer a crime in Fredericksburg Fredericksburg City Hall [Photo: Fredericksburg Va. Government Facebook page]
Fredericksburg citizens can now swear without fear of arrest.
The Fredericksburg City Council recently amended the city’s code to remove public swearing as a criminal offense.
Fredericksburg follows the 2020 Virginia General Assembly’s lead that adopted legislation to remove it from the state code.
The law, also known as the public intoxication statute, had been on the books since 1792 and weaved the act of swearing with public drunkenness. The statute remained on the books in the commonwealth despite the results of Cohen v. California, a 1971 Supreme Court case that ruled that banning offensive messages was a violation of First Amendment rights.