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- Title
YES, WE KLAN: REVIVING THE KU KLUX KLAN ACT TO PUNISH INSURRECTIONISTS.
- Authors
CHALLA, CHANDNI
- Abstract
A year after the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, the first lawsuit by a government entity against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for their involvement in the insurrection is imminently before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The complaint for D.C. v. Proud Boys International, L.L.C. et al. ("Proud Boys") was filed on December 14, 2021 by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia and charges the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers (collectively "Militia Groups") with, among other things, violating the Ku Klux Klan Act ("Klan Act") a federal conspiracy statute codified as 42 U.S.C. § 1985. Enacted in direct response to Ku Klux Klan ("Klan") violence against freed slaves during Reconstruction, the Klan Act provides an avenue to punish private individual(s) who conspire to infringe on individual equal protection or equal privilege and immunities under the law. In Proud Boys, the Government employs section 1985(1), clauses one and three, to argue that the Militia Groups' "coordinated act[s] of domestic terrorism" amount to a conspiracy to prevent the discharge of duties by officers of the United States and to injure an officer of the United States. Use of section 1985(1) in such a high-profile case is notable because there is no predominant case that outlines its application. As such, the D.C. District Court should investigate historical context and prominent case law for all section 1985 litigation to provide needed clarity on its appropriate application. If applied faithfully, the court could rule in favor of the government and establish Proud Boys as a powerful precedent for using section 1985(1) to hold liable militia groups for conspiratorial insurrectionist activities. Such a showing is the ultimate goal of this note.
- Subjects
ENFORCEMENT Acts (United States); PROUD Boys; CONSPIRACIES; REVOLUTIONS; POLITICAL violence
- Publication
St. Louis University Law Journal, 2023, Vol 67, Issue 2, p439
- ISSN
0036-3030
- Publication type
Article