Federal prosecutors asked an appellate court in Chicago on Tuesday to reinstate a charge that neo-Nazi leader William A. White of Roanoke used his Web site to encourage violence against a juror.

If questions and comments during oral arguments are any indication, two of the three judges hearing the appeal are giving the government's request serious consideration.

The three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing a decision by a Chicago judge who ruled last summer that White's actions were protected by the First Amendment.

White, the leader of a Roanoke-based neo-Nazi group who uses the Internet to badger those who disagree with him, was later convicted by a Roanoke jury in a second prosecution. In that case, the jury found last month that White threatened at least five people from Virginia Beach to Canada.

The charge against White in Chicago, filed before he was indicted in Roanoke, claimed that he posted the name, address and telephone number of the foreman of a jury that convicted a fellow white supremacist.

Although the post made no direct threats against the juror, prosecutors argued that White published the information hoping it would prompt readers of his racist Web site to harm the man.

"I have to say that I regard threats against jurors as particularly serious," 7th Circuit Judge Richard Posner said Tuesday during oral arguments, which were broadcast from the court's Web site.

At another point, Posner picked up on the government's assertion that while White made no direct threats, the words he used -- in context with other posts to his Web site -- amounted to a coded solicitation.

Posner brought up the words of King Henry II, who once asked aloud "will no one rid me of this pestilent priest?" before his knights followed his suggestion by killing a political rival.

Queried by Posner about that case, defense attorney Nishay Sanan said the king should be given the same protection today that White received under the First Amendment.

"Not punishable?" Posner retorted. "You're kidding."

Judge Ann Williams, a second member of the panel, also seemed receptive to the government's arguments, noting that White's words needed to be viewed in the larger context of his online language.

A decision by the 7th Circuit is expected later this year.

Meanwhile, White's attorneys in Roanoke are asking a judge to reverse a jury's decision to convict him of four of seven charges. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Jan. 20.