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During appeal of a Charlottesville rally case, court strikes down parts of federal anti-riot law
NEWS
During appeal of a Charlottesville rally case, court strikes down parts of federal anti-riot law
By DENISE LAVOIE
ASSOCIATED PRESS | AUG 24, 2020 AT 7:40 PM
RICHMOND — A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the convictions of two members of a white supremacist group who admitted they punched and kicked counterdemonstrators during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, but found that part of an anti-riot law “treads too far upon constitutionally protected speech.”
In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the entire federal Anti-Riot Act on its face. But the court said the 1968 law violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment in some respects. The court invalidated parts of the law where it encompasses speech tending to “encourage” or “promote” a riot, as well as speech “urging” others to riot or involving mere advocacy of violence.
The ruling came in an appeal by Benjamin Drake Daley of Redondo Beach, California, and Michael Paul Miselis of Lawndale, California, two members of the Rise Above Movement, a militant white supremacist group known for having members who train in mixed martial arts street-fighting techniques.
Daley and Miselis pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to riot in connection with several 2017 rallies, including a torch-lit march at the University of Virginia and the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville; Virginia, and rallies in Huntington Beach and Berkeley, California.
{snip}
During appeal of a Charlottesville rally case, court strikes down parts of federal anti-riot law
By DENISE LAVOIE
ASSOCIATED PRESS | AUG 24, 2020 AT 7:40 PM
RICHMOND — A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the convictions of two members of a white supremacist group who admitted they punched and kicked counterdemonstrators during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, but found that part of an anti-riot law “treads too far upon constitutionally protected speech.”
In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the entire federal Anti-Riot Act on its face. But the court said the 1968 law violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment in some respects. The court invalidated parts of the law where it encompasses speech tending to “encourage” or “promote” a riot, as well as speech “urging” others to riot or involving mere advocacy of violence.
The ruling came in an appeal by Benjamin Drake Daley of Redondo Beach, California, and Michael Paul Miselis of Lawndale, California, two members of the Rise Above Movement, a militant white supremacist group known for having members who train in mixed martial arts street-fighting techniques.
Daley and Miselis pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to riot in connection with several 2017 rallies, including a torch-lit march at the University of Virginia and the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville; Virginia, and rallies in Huntington Beach and Berkeley, California.
{snip}