RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups challenging North Carolina’s…
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups challenging North Carolina's anti-riot law, whose criminal penalties were increased by state lawmakers last year.
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina filed suit challenging the law after the state Legislature toughened the penalties in response to sometimes violent protests against racism and police brutality in 2020.
In a dismissal request filed by lawyers for the state and three district attorneys who were also sued, U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs ruled Tuesday that the law could withstand a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued that the law was unconstitutional because its language was too broad and vague.
Biggs primarily cited state appeals court decisions that reviewed earlier versions of the riot control law, arguing that the law protects free speech and peaceful protesters who the ACLU fears could be unfairly arrested.
“The Court concludes that the Riot Act does not criminalize a significant portion of protected speech to the extent that it is clearly lawful,” Judge Biggs wrote in an order released Wednesday, upholding the law's enforcement unless appealed, paving the way for stiffer penalties to become permanent.
While protests in North Carolina following the death of George Floyd have been largely peaceful, Republican House Speaker Tim Moore and supporters of the amendment said the law did not stop the rioting and looting that took place in downtown Raleigh in June 2020.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who successfully vetoed a similar bill in 2021, signed a 2023 bill with tougher penalties into law without his signature. Several Democrats, along with Republicans who hold a majority in the state Legislature, sponsored the bill last year, raising the possibility that Cooper's veto would be overridden.
The case heard by Biggs, who was appointed to the bench by then-President Barack Obama, focused on the legal definition of rioting, which has not been changed by the new law.
But the ACLU argued that the definition is so vague and broad that ACLU officials and members who advocate for protests protected by the U.S. and state constitutions could be arrested and subject to criminal and civil penalties simply for being in the vicinity of violent activity.
The law defines a riot as when three or more people gather and engage, or threaten to engage, in disorderly and violent conduct that causes injury or damage or creates a “clear and present danger” of injury or damage.
Lawyers for state Attorney General Josh Stein, who is one of the defendants in the lawsuit along with the district attorneys, wrote in a court brief that the state ACLU is wrong to argue that its members can be prosecuted for merely peacefully participating in a protest.
Stein's lawyers say a 1975 state Supreme Court ruling precludes that possibility, and a provision added to the 2023 version of the law says “merely being present” at an event where a riot occurs is not evidence necessary for a conviction.
Spokespeople for the ACLU and congressional leaders did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Wednesday.
The ACLU of North Carolina filed the lawsuit in April 2023, but refiled it in July after the state Legislature passed a different law making more detailed changes.
The 2023 Criminal Code reform will increase penalties or create new offences relating to knowingly participating in or inciting a riot.
Fines and prison sentences, usually extending to two years or more, are imposed on protesters who brandish weapons, injure someone or cause significant property damage. The law also creates new crimes for protesters who incite riots that result in death or death.
Business owners can also sue protesters who damage their property for three times the value of the damage, and anyone suspected of rioting or looting must wait 24 hours for bail to be posted.
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