More from Judge Mark Martin (of the Zombie Mohammed Incident), on CNN

More from Judge Mark Martin (of the Zombie Mohammed Incident), on CNN

via The Volokh Conspiracy by Eugene Volokh on 2/27/12

From a CNN interview (starting at 2:15):

Interviewer: When I spoke to him over the phone, Judge Martin acknowledged it's his job to protect the rights of people like the atheist, no matter how offensive they might be.
Interviewer to Judge Martin: … There are some who believe you were failing to protect that right.
Judge Martin: No, I don't think so. Here's the thing: It's a right, it's not a privilege, it's a right. With rights come responsibilities. The more that people abuse our rights, the more likely that we're going to lose them.

But I don't quite see how this is "the thing," at least in the sense of an explanation of the judge's actions at the trial. I don't think that we're in danger of losing our free speech rights because some people say things that are offensive to Muslims. I do think that free speech rights are in danger when judges berate alleged crime victims for their anti-Islam speech, and thus convey the message that the legal system may be biased against those who engage in such speech and may fail to protect those people because of such speech.