Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : High Court Hears Hate-Crime Case

An attorney representing a 17-year-old white skinhead urged the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a St. Paul, Minn., hate-crimes law because it strikes at free speech by proscribing a whole category of expressions: those which “arouse anger, alarm or resentment . . . on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender.” An attorney for the city called racial and religious bigotry a “cancer on our society” that the government can act against. The case involves a 1990 cross-burning in the front yard of a black family. A decision, expected next spring, could determine the fate of hundreds of laws enacted to combat hate crimes.