By David French
Monday, March 21, 2016
Left-wing criminality is getting out of hand. Over the weekend,
anti-Trump protests escalated yet again, this time affecting thousands of
Americans who had no interest in Donald Trump and no involvement in his
rallies. A small gang of leftists strategically blocked a major Arizona road,
not only impeding access to Trump’s political event, but also backing up
traffic for miles. This is a favorite tactic of leftist protesters (Black Lives
Matter protesters recently blocked the San Francisco Bay Bridge), and it has to
stop — along with every other protest tactic that violates the rights of
innocents.
The leftist media loves to love this lawlessness, and
public officials are relentlessly pressured into administering the most
meaningless slaps on the wrist — sometimes even letting protesters walk without
charges. The Left demands most-favored-criminal status for its social-justice
warriors, and it typically gets exactly what it demands. Criminality largely
goes unpunished, so-called direct action is rewarded with fawning accolades
from the media and celebrities, and the rule of law is diminished.
To be clear, these protesters aren’t exercising their
First Amendment rights. They’re suppressing free speech. The First Amendment
doesn’t create a right to interrupt or shut down rallies, close roads, or block
access to businesses. When law enforcement fails to defeat or deter unlawful
protest — often despite days of advance notice of disruptions — it fails in its
basic duty to protect the law-abiding public. It creates waves of bitterness
and resentment.
Trump’s response — to appeal to the most unhinged members
of his audience and incite violence (another protester was violently attacked
on Saturday) — will only provoke further escalation. And if Trump secures the
nomination, expect a rolling and dangerous carnival of violence moving across
the country as Trump campaigns to November. In the absence of law, the radical
Left flourishes. This is their moment, and no amount of assault will deter them
from disrupting Trump rallies, violating the rights of Trump voters, and
degrading our democracy with a spirit of anarchy.
There is, however, an answer, one that doesn’t depend on
spineless local prosecutors and doesn’t involve a violent response. Sue them.
Sue the protesters into bankruptcy. Answer each lawless act with a civil
complaint, seek injunctions, take discovery to reveal the full extent of
leftist astroturfing — do you really think these protests represent
spontaneous, uncoordinated events? — and collect money damages. Protesters
aren’t deterred by small fines and short detentions, but financially ruinous
damage awards raise the stakes.
There is ample precedent for this effort. As George
Washington University professor John Banzhaf catalogues, in New Jersey, the
so-called Bridgegate scandal has spawned a class-action lawsuit filed by
individuals and businesses who claim they suffered damages as a result of the
Christie administration’s retaliatory lane closures on the George Washington
Bridge. In June 2015, NPR reported that a protester in Michigan who had stopped
work at an oil pipeline by chaining himself to a truck was ordered to pay
$39,000 in restitution for the economic consequences of his criminal acts. In
Washington, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a radical environmentalist
organization, faces millions in fines for its attacks on lawful Japanese
whaling activities. Indeed, restitution is such a threat to the Left’s precious
“direct action” that activists exert massive pressure on public institutions to
drop restitution claims after unlawful protests.
But where towns and cities fail, individual Americans
should (and must) defend the rule of law. State law generally provides citizens
with multiple avenues for civil redress when they’re harmed by criminal acts,
and — if the criminal acts meet certain threshold requirements — there is even
potential relief under federal statutes. The Left, for example, has used the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) — originally designed
to stop the mafia — against pro-life
protesters. There is no reason why similar facts can’t create similar
remedies, but this time with social-justice warriors in the crosshairs.
If Trump was truly interested in defending and
vindicating the rights of his supporters, rather than engaging in faux-macho
posturing, he can put a tiny fraction of his billions to work actually protecting the rule of law. When local
prosecutors and town officials are spineless, Trump could help bring justice.
Where free expression is under attack from the Left’s heckler’s veto, Trump
could protect the First Amendment. Trump is famously litigious. Instead of
promising to pay the legal fees of his own criminal supporters, why not instead
pledge to support voters who have faced real harm?
Of course it’s not just Trump’s responsibility; the RNC and
others could easily step up when law enforcement fails. The Left loves its
“direct action.” It’s time for it to learn that direct actions can have costly
consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment