Are you allowed to give the police the middle finger? The answer is yes. Giving someone the finger is protected under the First Amendment. This issue surfaces from time to time, and it was confimed again by a federal court in Pennsylvania in March 2009.

Here is what happened in Hackbart v. City of Pittsburgh. Hackbart was trying to park his car in Pittsburgh when someone blocked his entry into the parking space and would not back up. As the court put it, "frustrated, Hackbart extended his left arm out the window of his vehicle and extended his middle finger to the driver." An officer, Elledge, saw this gesture and told Hackbart to watch it. The court says, "Hackbart responded by directing the same gesture toward Elledge." That did it. Elledge pulled him over and charged him with disorderly conduct. The district attorney's office dropped the charge, and Hackbart sued the police officer.

Most people will not give the police the finger. But you have to admit that you've always wondered what would happen if you did. Hackbart did. The federal court says he has a case. In fact, he wins the case without a trial. Here's why.

The Supreme Court has said that even non-verbal gestures and symbols may constitute speech. The Pennsylvania federal court adds, "several courts ... have found that the expressive use of the middle finger is protected speech under the First Amendment." For example, the federal appeals court in Cincinnatti ruled that the First Amendment allowed a driver to give the finger and tell protesters "fuck you." An appeals court in California said that directing a series of expletives and an obscene gesture at a police officer represented an expression of approval toward the officer and was therefore protected under the First Amendment.

Under these precedents, the court finds that "Hackbart ... was expressing his frustration and anger when he gestured with his middle finger to both the driver behind him and to Elledge." The officer made no secret of the reason why he arrested Hackbart for disorderly conduct. He wrote on the police report: "Driver made an obscene gesture towards me. Flipped me off while driving by. Also flipped off another driver." In writing this, the officer gave Hackbart a lawsuit. The officer admits that he arrested Hackbart in violation of the First Amendment.

This case reminds us that the First Amendment protects even obnoxious conduct. One of the cases cited in the Hackbart decision is Texas v. Johnson, the 1989 Supreme Court ruling that said flag burning is protected activity under the First Amendment. Flag burning and middle fingers push the boundaries of First Amendment activity, for sure. But this case is not that unusual. In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Vietnam War protester who walked through a courthouse wearing a jacket that said "Fuck the Draft." That case, Cohen v. California, is among the favorite cases of First Amendment mavens for any number of reasons. My reason is Justice Harlan's observation that "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric."