Posted on 04/30/2024 4:46:27 PM PDT by Candor7
This is the second in a series of four articles discussing how the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act and other federal civil rights laws could potentially be used to bring a class action lawsuit against Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for their coordinated efforts to harass and intimidate Jewish students on college campuses.
See the first article here.( link)
What does the 1964 Mississippi Burning case that occurred at the height of the civil rights struggle have in common with the plight of besieged Jewish and Israeli university students today? More than university administrators or the faculty and student tormentors of the Jewish students may realize.
While prosecutors can use RICO statutes to press the case against Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for their efforts to harass and intimidate Jewish and Israeli students on college campuses, the same law that prosecutors used to litigate the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi might also apply.
SJP and allied organizations have engaged in a pattern of conduct amounting to illegal harassment, intimidation, and discrimination targeting Jewish and pro-Israel students
In "United States v. Price," better known as the Mississippi Burning case, prosecutors successfully argued that they could apply the Anti-Klan Act of 1871 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1985-1986) not only to the direct perpetrators of the murders, which were committed by members of the Ku Klux Klan, but also to those who were part of the broader conspiracy to deprive individuals of their civil rights or, importantly, knew of the conspiracies but failed to take action to prevent them.
Section 1985(3), for example, allows federal civil claims against individuals who conspire to deprive others of constitutionally protected rights. Section 1986 goes a step further, establishing an affirmative duty and bystander liability upon those who have knowledge that a Section 1985 conspiracy is about to be committed but neglect or refuse to use their power to prevent it.
This Mississippi Burning precedent is directly applicable to the SJP conspiracy to harass Jewish students. SJP and allied organizations have engaged in a pattern of conduct amounting to illegal harassment, intimidation, and discrimination targeting Jewish and pro-Israel students in violation of students' Section 1985(3) rights.
Online forums also reflect the conspiracy. SJP plans and recruits for activities targeting Jewish students through various communications platforms such as online forums, encrypted messaging apps, and similar tools to shield activities from public view. This shift to online organizing by hate groups creates both challenges and opportunities for law enforcement and university administrators seeking to detect and disrupt unlawful conspiracies. However, while these online communications may be hidden from external view, they are likely visible to a significant number of insiders and sympathizers who participate in the same digital networks, as well as university information technology managers.
This is where Section 1986 liability comes into play. To the extent that SJP members and supporters become aware, through online communications, of unlawful conspiracies to harass and intimidate Jewish students but fail to act to report and prevent them, they face civil liability under Section 1986, even if they did not participate in or even agree with the aims of the conspiracy.
It is critical that university administrators, law enforcement, and the public take action to hold SJP and its supporters accountable and protect the rights of Jewish and Israeli students.
In this way, Section 1986 could serve to incentivize individuals within SJP's online ecosystem who observe the planning of activities that cross the line into illegal infringement of Jewish students' rights to take affirmative steps to report and disrupt them. The prospect of civil liability and monetary damages may motivate more conscientious objectors and whistleblowers to come forward.
Those accused of Section 1986 violations for failing to report based on online information would raise legal defenses, including potential First Amendment arguments that the statute impermissibly compels speech. However, precedent suggests that requiring disclosure of purely factual information regarding an imminent conspiracy to violate civil rights would not unconstitutionally compel endorsement of any ideology or run afoul of rights to anonymous speech and association.
Exposing the full scope of SJP's online activities is essential to shine a light on the injustices faced by Jewish students on college campuses today. The visible protests are just the tip of the iceberg. It is critical that university administrators, law enforcement, and the public take action to hold SJP and its supporters accountable and protect the rights of Jewish and Israeli students. The Anti-Klan Act provides a powerful tool to do so, just as it did in the fight for civil rights over half a century ago.
Gregg Roman is director of the Middle East Forum.
About the Middle East Forum
The Middle East Forum, a think tank founded in 1994 by Daniel Pipes, promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western values from Middle Eastern threats. In the Middle East, we focus on ways to defeat radical Islam; work for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; develop strategies to contain Iran; and deal with advancing anarchy. Domestically, the Forum emphasizes the danger of lawful Islamism; protects the freedoms of anti-Islamist authors, and activists; and works to improve Middle East studies.
Mission
MEF promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western values from Middle Eastern threats.
The Forum sees the region — with its profusion of dictatorships, radical ideologies, existential conflicts, border disagreements, corruption, political violence, and weapons of mass destruction — as a major source of problems for the United States. Accordingly, we urge bold measures to protect Americans and their allies.
In the Middle East, we focus on ways to defeat radical Islam; work for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; develop strategies to contain Iran; and deal with the great advances of anarchy.
At home, the Forum emphasizes the danger of lawful Islamism; protects the freedoms of anti-Islamist authors, activists, and publishers; and works to improve Middle East studies.
Methods
The Middle East Forum realizes its goals through three main mechanisms:
Operationally, exerting direct influence through its projects (detailed below), each addressing a specific problem.
Intellectually, providing context, information, insights, and policy recommendations through the Middle East Quarterly, conference calls, staff and fellows writings, lectures, and media appearances — clearing a path to victory over opponents.
Philanthropically, distributing about $2 million annually in separately earmarked funds through our Education Fund, to about 75 groups and individuals working to promote the Forum’s goals.
That is bound to happen as Jewish students provocatively walk across the grass or on a college sidewalk in broad daylight.
“LYNCHING.—Whoever conspires to commit any offense under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) shall, if death or serious bodily injury (as defined in section 2246 of this title) results from the offense, be imprisoned for not more than 30 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both.”
Let them keep it going all Summer.
Thanks Candor
No, the anti-clan act was used for more important things, like imprisoning a man who put up a funny Hillary election meme.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
“It takes a village.”
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