Mediaboss Marketing

The limits of constitutionally protected speech and freedom of assembly are being put to the test in Charlottesville.

In less than two weeks, members of the National Socialist Movement, the pro-secessionist League of the South and hundreds of their allies in the Nationalist Front and alt-right movement will gather in Emancipation Park for the Unite the Right rally.

Arranged by self-described pro-white activist Jason Kessler, the rally is expected to also draw hundreds of confrontational counter-protesters who will be able to gather at McGuffey and Justice parks, per event permits recently secured by University of Virginia professor Walt Heinecke.

While the stage for Aug. 12 is nearly set, with massive demonstrations and protesters expected, questions regarding the enforcement of law and order remain.

City officials said they have been working with Kessler to relocate the rally elsewhere because of the number of people the event is expected to draw to the downtown area. Kessler, however, does not want to change venues, according to authorities.

The director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression says the city is allowed to move the event in order to maintain public safety and prevent disruption to traffic and business downtown.

They should be able to relocate it to a more suitable location, said the centers director, Clay Hansen. As long as its for legitimate reasons and they dont try to minimize or hide the rally in some far-off corner of the city.

S. Carolina group moves event to Darden Towe Park

An attorney supporting Kessler, however, says the city is prohibited from doing so.

It would be ridiculously unconstitutional for the city to try to move the event elsewhere on that basis, said Kyle Bristow, an attorney and director of the Michigan-based Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas, a self-described nonpartisan civil liberties nonprofit.

The groups board of directors includes Mike Enoch, a white nationalist commentator and podcaster. Enoch will be one of the featured speakers at the Unite the Right rally.

In an email last week, Bristow said his recently founded legal network is quickly becoming the legal muscle behind the alt-right movement. The alt-right is considered a far-right movement that combines elements of racism, white nationalism and populism while rejecting mainstream conservatism, political correctness and multiculturalism.

Two local conservative activists are distancing themselves from Jason Kessler, who invited anti-Semitic and white nationalist speakers to headline his rally.

Earlier this year, according to Bristow, his organization helped coordinate the legal case that led to an Alabama court requiring Auburn University to let white nationalist Richard Spencer speak on campus. Auburn settled the case earlier this year with a $29,000 payout to cover the legal fees of the student who filed the suit, according to the universitys student-run newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman.

In recent weeks, business owners, activists and others have commented on the possibility of violence at the rally, sometimes comparing it to the melees between self-styled anti-fascist protesters and alt-right ideologues at protests in Berkeley, California, earlier this year.

In a letter to city officials last week, Bristow said law enforcement officials could potentially deprive the right-wing activists of their constitutional rights if authorities do not prevent leftist thugs from attacking people at the rally.

If the Charlottesville Police Department stands down on Aug. 12, it would not be farfetched to postulate that the alt-right rally participants will stand up for their rights by effectuating citizens arrests or by engaging in acts of self-defense, Bristow said.

It would be imprudent, reckless, unconstitutional and actionable for the Charlottesville Police Department to not maintain order, he said, adding that anyone who interrupts the rally also could be sued.

Bristow alleged in his letter that Kessler recently was told that law enforcement officials would not have to intervene should left-wing protesters attack the rally attendees. A police spokesman refuted that claim Friday, saying that the department officials met with Kessler and a representative of his security staff earlier this month and discussed several security concerns.

At no time was Mr. Kessler informed officers would not take action against those that attempted or committed violence towards another, said Lt. Steve Upman.

Kessler did not reply to calls and messages last week.

Some suspect that the possible violence could be the result of intentional right-wing agitation, as local activists with Solidarity Cville have recently exposed posts on social media and far-right blogs in which supporters of Unite the Right rally seemed to revel in the possibility of violence and call on others to prepare for a fight.

Republicans and Democrats alike have cast the hardcore conservatives and populists associated with the alt-right movement as racist for its provocative leaders explicit anti-Semitism and unabashed calls for a white-ethno state.

While their beliefs and activism have turned off many, the rallys primary goal of protesting the citys effort to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee has caused some Southern heritage supporters and political moderates to become sympathetic to Kesslers cause.

But the slow revelation that the events extreme far-right elements will be met by liberals, leftists and anti-racists has scared others away.

Business owners say they are concerned for the safety of their businesses and patrons if the rally gets out of hand.

According to Albemarle County spokeswoman Lee Catlin, the organizers of the Patriot Movements planned 1Team1Fight event in Darden Towe Park, which was being relocated from Greenville, South Carolina, have called it off.

Catlin said the organizers reportedly canceled their event because of unknown variables with the opposition.

Earlier in the week, an organizer for the event, who goes by the name Chevy Love on Facebook, said the event was not affiliated with the Unite the Right rally, saying that she did not want to associate with any of the hate groups expected to attend, listing both left- and right-wing activist groups.

Earlier in the week, before the organizers canceled the event in Darden Towe Park, the National Socialist Movement announced that members will be in attendance at the Unite the Right rally to defend Free Speech and our Heritage at the Lee Monument.

In an interview, Butch Urban, the movements chief of staff, said the organization had been planning to attend the event after it was arranged by Kessler earlier this summer.

The event also will draw leaders and followers of other groups in the Nationalist Front, an alliance of groups such as the Traditionalist Worker Party and The League of the South all of which are united in working toward the creation of an ethno-state for white people.

Although National Socialism is typically cited as the definition of Nazi ideology, Urban said his organization is not a neo-Nazi group.

Thats what everybody takes it to be. Thats not what it is, Urban said. National Socialism is about your country and your people come first. You dont support wars around the world and giving billions of dollars to other countries.

As for the calls for a white-ethno state, Urban said multiculturalism has only been pushed down everyones throat in the last 30 to 40 years. Thats not what everyone wants, he said.

Take a look at Chicago, theres a prime example of multiculturalism, he added, citing the citys reputation of having high murder and unemployment rates.

In the decades following World War II, U.S. courts have grappled with the First Amendment questions involving Nazi demonstrations and displays. Many of those cases have determined that Nazi and white supremacist rhetoric is constitutionally protected speech.

And while many object to those ideals, authorities cannot justify restricting speech despite the threat of violence and public disorder a principle known as the Hecklers veto. Both Bristow and local attorney Lloyd Snook recently mentioned the doctrine in recent comments about the upcoming rally.

In First Amendment theory, it is fundamental that a government cannot regulate speech based on its content, including on the fact that some people may be hostile to it, Snook wrote on his law firms website.

Published earlier this month, about two weeks after a North Carolina chapter of the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in Justice Park to protest the planned removal of the Lee statue, Snook wrote that there has been a disturbing complaint about law enforcement being hand in hand with the Klan and white nationalists.

In fact, the city police department is required to preserve order to allow the demonstration to go forward, Snook said. This is not a matter of choice, but of constitutional law.

In his commentary, Snook cited the 1992 Supreme Court decision that invalidated an ordinance in Forsyth County, Georgia, that required fees for any parade, assembly or demonstration on public property.

According to Snook, the Forsyth County government passed the ordinance after a violent civil rights demonstration in 1987 cost over $670,000 in police protection.

Two years later, when the Nationalist Movement had to pay fees to hold a protest against the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the group sued the county.

The case eventually came before the Supreme Court, which in a 5-4 opinion decided that the countys ordinance violated the First Amendment. Snook said the court struck down that ordinance because it had the possibility of being applied such that it would cost more to express unpopular viewpoints.

In recent weeks, some opposed to the Unite the Right rally have called on the city to make sure that Kessler pays the associated fees and obtains a liability insurance policy of no less than $1 million that the city requires for special events.

In an email last week, city spokeswoman Miriam Dickler clarified that the city makes distinctions between demonstrations and special events, and that the two are not interchangeable under the citys regulations.

The differences are attributable to United States Supreme Court decisions involving the First Amendment, Dickler said.

According to the citys Standard Operating Procedure for special events, a demonstration is defined as a non-commercial expression protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (such as picketing, political marches, speechmaking, vigils, walks, etc.) conducted on public property, the conduct of which has the effect, intent or propensity to draw a crowd or onlookers.

Regardless, she said that Kessler has provided a certificate of insurance voluntarily, and that the citys Special Events Coordinator has been communicating with Kessler since he filed the application.

Looking at another Supreme Court case, Hansen, of the local Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, said the courts 1977 decision in the National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie case feels closest to what were dealing with here in the city.

The case centered on a planned National Socialist demonstration in the village of Skokie, Illinois, which at the time had a large population of Jewish residents who survived detention in Nazi concentration camps or were related to a Holocaust survivor.

Fearing violence would be directed at the demonstrators who were planning to dress in Nazi-era uniforms with swastika armbands, a local court prohibited the event, an action that the U.S. Supreme Court later found to be unconstitutional in a 5-4 opinion.

In particular, the litigation in that didnt have to do with the march and the gathering itself it was more about symbols, Hansen said, explaining that the Supreme Court had to decide whether Nazi imagery could constitute fighting words, a legal distinction that prohibits some forms of speech that are likely to incite violence.

The court ultimately found that those symbols do not pass that threshold, which has in recent years largely fallen out of favor as doctrinal tool, Hansen said. Instead, the doctrine in recent years has morphed into a new rationale thats based on allowing authorities to stop speech that could lead to imminent lawless action, he said. Its useful if something goes wrong.

While the city could theoretically stop the Unite the Right rally as its happening, according to Hansen, its not a decision to take lightly, he said, adding that its unlikely that authorities will do so.

Its a high hurdle to legally justify stopping a demonstration, Hansen said.

The city has an obligation to handle any crowds that are on site as a result of a lawful and protected speech activity, he said. In a public park, and given the proper permit police are obliged to make sure that the event goes unimpeded.

Concerned that people protesting the Unite the Right could be arrested for participating in an unlawful assembly, Heinecke earlier this month applied to hold demonstrations at McGuffey Park and Justice Park.

At the Klan rally earlier this month, 22 people were arrested on various charges. About half of the arrests occurred after the rally had ended and authorities declared that the hundred or so people still on the street were illegally gathered. Authorities eventually used tear gas to force the crowd to disperse.

The best way to avoid that is to have some free-assembly zones at the parks, Heinecke said. He said the permits will allow the protesters to gather from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 12. The Unite the Right rally is scheduled for noon to 5 p.m.

Heinecke said there will be programming at the two parks. He declined to say which activist groups and organizations hes collaborating with to contend with Kesslers rally.

Alluding to the countrys legacy as it relates to racism against African-Americans, he said Charlottesville in particular has unfinished business when it comes to racial justice.

I think the city will be the epicenter of a conversation about racial justice in a new era were going toward with changing racial demographics, he said.

Asked about the alt-right activists concern that the nations changing demographics are tantamount to a displacement of white people, Heinecke said it saddens him that they are so fearful.

I think theyre operating out of fear rather than seeing an opportunity to create a diverse and equal society, he said.

Thats a sad thing when theres an opportunity to think about what the United States of America really means.

See the original post:
Unite the Right rally sparks First Amendment questions | Local ... - The Daily Progress

Columnist Edward Fitzpatrick looks at two new state laws.

On June 30, an epic impasse between Rhode Island House and Senate leaders left the states $9.2-billion budget in limbo along with scores of other pieces of legislation. But amid the State Houses marble maze of power politics and clashing priorities, two bills managed to emerge at the last minute that will bolster press freedom and create a more open government.

Before the legislative session came to an abrupt halt, the House and the Senate had unanimously approved one of those bills the Student Journalists Freedom of Expression Act, which protects student journalists and their advisers from censorship and retaliation.

To become law, the House and Senate versions of that bill needed to cross over for votes in the other chamber. But just as those votes were about to take place on June 30, the Senate moved to amend the budget and House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello, D-Cranston, sent the House home in protest.

We thought that was it, said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, based in Washington, D.C. I was staying up, watching and refreshing the [General Assembly] website until 10:30 p.m. before I gave up hope.

But just before midnight, Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, contacted LoMonte, saying the Senate had passed the House version of the student press freedom bill. That was a little more thrilling of a roller coaster ride than I would have liked, LoMonte said. But I am happy where it landed.

The Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Gayle L. Goldin, D-Providence, landed in limbo. But the House bill, introduced by Rep. Jeremiah T. OGrady, D-Lincoln, landed on Gov. Gina Raimondos desk, and she signed it into law on July 18.

So why does the new law matter? Let two student journalists explain.

Peder S. Schaefer, editor of the Providence Country Day student newspaper, The Roundtable, noted that earlier this year student journalists in Kansas dug into the background of their newly hired principal, revealing questionable credentials and leading to her abrupt resignation.

This bill would enable stories like that to happen, Schaefer said. Especially in high school, schools have the power to shut things like that down very quickly. This bill puts protections in place that allow students to go after stories like that or to write about school policies, such as school start times.

Mary Lind, co-editor of the Lincoln High School student newspaper, The Lions Roar, said she called state legislators and the governors office, urging them to adopt the law to prevent the horror stories of censorship in other parts of the country.

It will show students in Rhode Island that although theyre under 18, their voices still matter and that they are still reliable sources, she said. They are not fake news.

Back in March 2016, I wrote about how a student at The Met High School, Yanine Castedo, launched the local push for a student press freedom bill, working with the Providence Student Union. Zack Mezera, executive director of the Providence Student Union, said student journalists now wont have to worry about censorship if, for example, they write about the condition of school buildings.

More broadly, he said, It protects journalism in an age when journalism is under attack, and it sends a message about protecting youth as people with valid, legitimate experiences.

Rhode Island became the 13th state to pass a student press freedom law, joining Nevada and Vermont in enacting such a law this year. And LoMonte noted the House and Senate floor votes were unanimous, saying, Its always gratifying that support crosses party lines and ideological lines. Freedom of the press should not be a partisan or political issue.

LoMonte also pointed out that the new Rhode Island law protects high school and college journalists in both public and private schools.

You could argue that its the most comprehensive law of its kind in the country, he said. Its certainly one we will show to other states as a model.

Such laws are necessary, LoMonte explained, because the U.S. Supreme Courts 1988 ruling in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier upheld the right of a public high school to censor student newspaper stories about teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children. Since then, states have been passing anti-Hazelwood laws.

And now LoMonte hopes Rhode Island schools will adopt rules reflecting the new law so that disputes over student journalism can be handled internally rather than in state court.

The student press freedom law wasnt the only bill to narrowly escape Smith Hill purgatory on June 30. Senate Majority Leader Michael J. McCaffrey and Rep. Evan P. Shanley, both D-Warwick, had introduced legislation to make two significant changes to the state Open Meetings Law. While McCaffreys bill ended up in limbo, the Senate passed the House version, and Raimondo signed that bill into law on July 18.

The new law requires all public bodies to keep minutes of open meetings (not just on the state level but also the city and town level), and it excludes weekends and holidays from the calculation of the 48-hour public notice requirement.

These reforms to the Open Meetings Act were significant and will affect every citizen of Rhode Island positively, said John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. Right now, municipalities dont have to put minutes online, but theyre going to have to. Thats great because there are a lot more municipal bodies than state bodies, and they affect citizens on a daily basis setting property taxes, hiring school superintendents, managing municipal pensions.

The ACLU had reviewed public-meeting notices a couple of years ago. And we were quite shocked to see how often public bodies posted notices of a Monday meeting late on a Friday afternoon, Brown said. These werent just small agencies no one has heard of; these were city councils and school committees.

Its not only that people dont learn about the meetings in advance, but they have very little time to prepare if they want to speak out on an issue.

Marion said the idea for the new law originated with some conservative constituents in McCaffreys district. Open government is an issue that unites the left and the right, he said.

Indeed, thats a key lesson for students of journalism and politics: A free press and open government serve both sides of the partisan divide, helping to inform citizens and hold whoever is in power accountable.

Edward Fitzpatrick is director of media and public relations for Roger Williams University, a New England First Amendment Coalition and Common Cause Rhode Island board member, and a former Providence Journal columnist. His First Amendment column appears monthly in The Journal. This piece first appeared on the universitys First Amendment blog at firstamendment.rwu.edu.

Continue reading here:
The First Amendment: Free press, open meetings laws survive RI State House standoff - The Providence Journal

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following commentary was written byMary Clare Amselem, a policy analyst in the Institute for Family, Community and Opportunity at The Heritage Foundation.

American universities were once welcome spaces for intellectual exploration and civil debate. Unfortunately, we have exchanged intellectual spaces for "safe spaces," and we are worse off for it.

Indeed, the culture on college campuses today is so hostile toward views outside of the leftist status quo, that students and administrators alike have taken drastic measures to silence the speech of others. Whether it is shouting down other students or physically blocking conservative speakers from entering their campus, it is clear that many of our universities no longer welcome contrarian viewpoints.

There is plenty of blame to go around for how we got here. But one underlying issue plagues our university system: Colleges are insulated from market pressures that would drive up quality and drive out bad ideas.

The assault on free speech is indicative of the intellectual decay of our university systems. It makes sense that universities that teach courses such as "Tree Climbing," "Kanye Versus Everybody" and "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus" are failing to instill important American values in their students.

The prevalence of free-speech zones on college campuses is impossible to reconcile with American democracy. These zones, typically the size of about three parking spaces and requiring prior registration with the university to use, violate the most fundamental rights of students. Additionally, this treatment shames students out of their beliefs and shuts down meaningful debate in the name of political correctness.

We clearly need significant reforms to get our colleges back on track, yet little is done. There are significant barriers in place that maintain the status quo, protecting long-standing universities from competing with new education models.

Take, for example, the significant regulations placed on for-profit colleges. Policies such as "borrower's defense to repayment" (a type of loan forgiveness) and "gainful employment" (which requires for-profit schools to prove their graduates earn a good wage, using one-size fits all metrics) place an undue burden on these institutions, often limiting their ability to grow and improve.

Many for-profit institutions offer a desirable alternative for students who do not want to take the lengthy and expensive bachelor's degree route. A student may also see a for-profit education as a way to focus on a specific skill set and skip the "Tree Climbing" class.

Our outdated accreditation system is also to blame. The current process enables the Department of Education to choose accreditors, who then distribute federal dollars to the schools they accredit. This ensures that the federal government remains intimately involved in deciding which schools are desirable and which are not.

The free market is a much better barometer of quality. If burdensome regulations were removed and the business community got involved in the accreditation process, as the Higher Education Reform and Opportunity Act proposes, colleges would be forced to compete for students against all education models out there. When faced with the option of high quality online school, a vocational school, or a four-year bachelor's degree, each of those institutions would compete to offer students the best skill set at the best price.

Additionally, collaboration between the business community and the academic community would encourage schools to gear their curriculum towards marketable skills needed for the workforce. Unfortunately, the current regulatory environment has made it difficult for these alternative schools to thrive.

Today, universities do not face these market pressures to improve quality. As a result, universities across the country more or less look the same. NYU may have a better biology curriculum than Berkeley, yet the institutional frameworks and campus cultures of these two institutions look remarkably similar.

Unfortunately, it appears that colleges and universities won't shape up unless they fear they will lose students. Reducing federal intervention in higher education could spark the growth of non-traditional education options to challenge the status quo.

Mary Clare Amselem can be reached at the Institute for Family, Community and Opportunity at The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, D.C., 20002. The foundation's website is http://www.heritage.org. Information about the foundation's funding may be found at http://www.heritage.org/about/reports.cfm.

Follow this link:
To restore First Amendment on campus, open universities to competition - Eagle-Tribune

CHARLOTTESVILLE The limits of constitutionally protected speech and freedom of assembly are being put to the test in Charlottesville.

In less than two weeks, members of the National Socialist Movement, the pro-secessionist League of the South and hundreds of their allies in the Nationalist Front and alt-right movement will gather in Emancipation Park for the Unite the Right rally.

Arranged by self-described pro-white activist Jason Kessler, the rally is expected to also draw hundreds of confrontational counter-protesters who will be able to gather at McGuffey and Justice parks, per event permits recently secured by University of Virginia professor Walt Heinecke.

While the stage for Aug. 12 is nearly set, with massive demonstrations and protesters expected, questions regarding the enforcement of law and order remain.

City officials said they have been working with Kessler to relocate the rally elsewhere, because of the number of people the event is expected to draw to the downtown area. Kessler, however, does not want to change venues, according to authorities.

The director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression says the city is allowed to move the event in order to maintain public safety and prevent disruption to traffic and business downtown.

They should be able to relocate it to a more suitable location, said the centers director, Clay Hansen. As long as its for legitimate reasons and they dont try to minimize or hide the rally in some far-off corner.

An attorney supporting Kessler says the city is prohibited from doing so.

It would be ridiculously unconstitutional for the city to try to move the event elsewhere on that basis, said Kyle Bristow, an attorney and director of the Michigan-based Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas, a self-described nonpartisan civil liberties nonprofit.

The groups board of directors includes Mike Enoch, a white nationalist commentator and podcaster. Enoch will be one of the featured speakers at the Unite the Right rally.

In an email last week, Bristow said his recently founded legal network is quickly becoming the legal muscle behind the alt-right movement.

The alt-right is a far-right movement that combines elements of racism, white nationalism and populism while rejecting mainstream conservatism and multiculturalism.

Earlier this year, according to Bristow, his organization helped coordinate the legal case that led to an Alabama court requiring the University of Auburn to let white nationalist Richard Spencer speak on campus. Auburn settled the case earlier this year with a $29,000 payout to cover the legal fees of the student who filed the suit, according to the universitys student-run newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman.

In recent weeks, business owners, activists and others have commented on the possibility of violence at the rally, sometimes comparing it to the melees between self-styled anti-fascist protesters and alt-right ideologues at protests in Berkley, California, earlier this year.

In a letter to city officials last week, Bristow said law enforcement officials could potentially deprive the right-wing activists of their constitutional rights if authorities do not prevent leftist thugs from attacking the rally.

If the Charlottesville Police Department stands down on Aug. 12, it would not be farfetched to postulate that the alt-right rally participants will stand up for their rights by effectuating citizens arrests or by engaging in acts of self-defense, Bristow said. It would be imprudent, reckless, unconstitutional and actionable for the Charlottesville Police Department to not maintain order.

Bristow alleged in his letter that Kessler recently was told that law enforcement officials would not have to intervene should left-wing protesters attack the rally attendees. A police spokesman refuted that claim Friday, saying that the department officials met with Kessler and a representative of his security staff earlier this month and discussed several security concerns.

At no time was Mr. Kessler informed officers would not take action against those that attempted or committed violence towards another, said Lt. Steve Upman.

Kessler did not reply to calls and messages last week.

Some suspect that the possible violence could be the result of intentional right-wing agitation, as local activists with Solidarity Cville have recently exposed posts on social media and far-right blogs in which supporters of Unite the Right rally seemed to revel in the possibility of violence and call on others to prepare for a fight.

Denounced by both parties

Republicans and Democrats alike have cast the hardcore conservatives and populists associated with the alt-right movement as racist for its provocative leaders explicit anti-Semitism and unabashed calls for a white-ethno state.

While their beliefs and activism have turned off many, the rallys primary goal of protesting the citys effort to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee has caused some Southern heritage supporters and political moderates to become sympathetic to Kesslers cause.

But the slow revelation that the events extreme far-right elements will be met by liberals, leftists and anti-racists has scared others away.

According to Albemarle County spokeswoman Lee Catlin, the organizers of the Patriot Movements planned 1Team1Fight event in Darden Towe Park, which was being relocated from Greenville, South Carolina, have called it off.

Catlin said the organizers reportedly canceled their event because of unknown variables with the opposition.

Earlier in the week, an organizer for the event, who goes by the name Chevy Love on Facebook, said the event was not affiliated with the Unite the Right rally, saying that she did not want to associate with any of the hate groups expected to attend, listing both left- and right-wing activist groups.

Earlier in the week, before the organizers canceled the event in Darden Towe Park, the National Socialist Movement announced that members will be in attendance at the Unite the Right rally to defend Free Speech and our Heritage at the Lee Monument.

In an interview, Butch Urban, the movements chief of staff, said the organization had been planning to attend the event after it was arranged by Kessler earlier this summer.

The event also will draw leaders and followers of other groups in the Nationalist Front, an alliance of groups such as the Traditionalist Worker Party and The League of the South all of which are united in working toward the creation of an ethno-state for white people.

Although National Socialism is typically cited as the definition of Nazi ideology, Urban said his organization is not a neo-Nazi group.

Thats what everybody takes it to be. Thats not what it is, Urban said. National Socialism is about your country and your people come first. You dont support wars around the world and giving billions of dollars to other countries.

As for the calls for a white-ethno state, Urban said multiculturalism has only been pushed down everyones throat in the last 30 to 40 years. Thats not what everyone wants, he said.

Take a look at Chicago, theres a prime example of multiculturalism, he added, citing the citys reputation of having high murder and unemployment rates.

First Amendment

U.S. courts have grappled with the First Amendment questions involving Nazi demonstrations and displays. Many of those cases have determined that Nazi and white supremacist rhetoric is constitutionally protected.

And while many object to those ideals, authorities cannot justify restricting speech despite the threat of violence and public disorder a principle known as the Hecklers veto. Both Bristow and local attorney Lloyd Snook recently mentioned the doctrine in comments about the upcoming rally.

In First Amendment theory, it is fundamental that a government cannot regulate speech based on its content, including on the fact that some people may be hostile to it, Snook wrote on his law firms website.

About two weeks after a North Carolina chapter of the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in Justice Park to protest the planned removal of the Lee statue, Snook wrote that there has been a disturbing complaint about law enforcement being hand in hand with the Klan and white nationalists.

In fact, the city police department is required to preserve order to allow the demonstration to go forward, Snook said. This is not a matter of choice, but of constitutional law.

Snook cited the 1992 Supreme Court decision that invalidated an ordinance in Forsyth County, Georgia, that required fees for any parade, assembly or demonstration on public property. According to Snook, Forsyth County passed the ordinance after a violent civil rights demonstration in 1987 cost the county over $670,000.

Two years later, when the Nationalist Movement had to pay fees to hold a protest against the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the group sued the county.

In a 5-4 opinion, the Supreme Court decided that the countys ordinance violated the First Amendment.

In recent weeks, some opposed to the Unite the Right rally have called on the city to ensure Kessler pays the fees and obtains liability insurance of no less than $1 million that the city requires for special events.

In an email last week, city spokeswoman Miriam Dickler clarified that the city makes distinctions between demonstrations and special events, and that the two are not interchangeable under the citys regulations.

The differences are attributable to United States Supreme Court decisions involving the First Amendment, Dickler said.

According to the citys Standard Operating Procedure for special events, a demonstration is defined as a non-commercial expression protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (such as picketing, political marches, speechmaking, vigils, walks, etc.) conducted on public property, the conduct of which has the effect, intent or propensity to draw a crowd or onlookers.

Regardless, she said, Kessler has voluntarily provided a certificate of insurance.

1977 Skokie decision

Looking at another Supreme Court case, Hansen, of the local Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, said the courts 1977 decision in the National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie case feels closest to what were dealing with here in the city.

The case centered on a planned National Socialist demonstration in Skokie, Illinois, which at the time had a large population of Jewish residents who survived detention in Nazi concentration camps or were related to Holocaust survivors.

Fearing violence would be directed at the demonstrators who were planning to dress in Nazi-era uniforms with swastika armbands, a local court prohibited the event, an action that the U.S. Supreme Court later found to be unconstitutional in a 5-4 opinion.

In particular, the litigation in that didnt have to do with the march and the gathering itself it was more about symbols, Hansen said. The Supreme Court had to decide whether Nazi imagery could constitute fighting words, a legal distinction that prohibits some forms of speech that are likely to incite violence.

The court found that those symbols do not pass that threshold, which has in recent years largely fallen out of favor as doctrinal tool, Hansen said. Instead, the doctrine in recent years has morphed into a new rationale thats based on allowing authorities to stop speech that could lead to imminent lawless action, he said. Its useful if something goes wrong.

While the city could theoretically stop the Unite the Right rally as its happening, according to Hansen, its not a decision to take lightly.

Its a high hurdle to legally justify stopping a demonstration, Hansen said.

The city has an obligation to handle any crowds that are on site as a result of a lawful and protected speech activity, he said. In a public park, and given the proper permit police are obliged to make sure that the event goes unimpeded.

Free-assembly zones

Concerned that people protesting the Unite the Right could be arrested for participating in an unlawful assembly, Heinecke earlier this month applied to hold demonstrations at McGuffey Park and Justice Park.

At the Klan rally earlier this month, 22 people were arrested on various charges. About half of the arrests occurred after the rally had ended and authorities declared that the hundred or so people still on the street were illegally gathered. Authorities used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The best way to avoid that is to have some free-assembly zones at the parks, Heinecke said. He said the permits will allow the protesters to gather from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 12. The Unite the Right rally is scheduled for noon to 5 p.m.

Heinecke said there will be programming at the two parks. He declined to say which activist groups and organizations hes collaborating with to contend with Kesslers rally.

He said Charlottesville in particular has unfinished business in regard to racial justice.

I think the city will be the epicenter of a conversation about racial justice in a new era were going toward with changing racial demographics, he said.

Asked about the alt-right activists concern that the nations changing demographics are tantamount to a displacement of white people, Heinecke said it saddens him that they are so fearful.

I think theyre operating out of fear rather than seeing an opportunity to create a diverse and equal society, he said. Thats a sad thing when theres an opportunity to think about what the United States of America really means.

Continued here:
Unite the Right rally sparks First Amendment questions | Virginia ... - Roanoke Times

A West Ashley psychiatrist was so offended by a poor online review that he has sued the anonymous critic and demanded that Google unmask the user's identity.

What did the review say? Nothing.

It simply gave Dr. Mark Beale one out of five stars a judgment that Beale said has caused him "extreme and constant distress."

Beale insisted that it could not have come from an actual patient, making it false and libelous. His lawsuit noted that he was highly regarded on other websites. He had enjoyed 4 stars on the popular WebMD.com.

"Its a mystery," Beale said in a brief interview. "The one-star review is out of sync with the feedback I get from my patients. ... So we decided to look into it."

His defamation claim is shaping up as a battle over First Amendment rights in an age of internet anonymity. The suit against "John Doe" was filed in March in Charleston County court, but it ratcheted up this month as Google objected to Beale's attempts to expose what he dubbed a spoofer.

Beale wants Doe to pay damages and Google to take down the rating and reveal the user. But Google doesn't want to. At least, not yet.

Beale's attorney, Steven Abrams of Mount Pleasant, said he has handled several similar cases, and companies like Google, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon typically hand over identifying information of anonymous users.

Why Google fought this case, I have no earthly idea, Abrams said. Theres not really a lot of case law (in South Carolina) ... on these types of cases because they dont usually result in a fight.

Online reviews have prompted such courtroom action in other states, including in California, where a Yelp user was sued over a one-star rating of a law firm. Supported by other websites such as Google and major newspapers, Yelp has asked the state's Supreme Court to overturn an order to take it down.

Beale said he has practiced at Charleston Psychiatric Associates on St. Andrews Boulevard for 16 years, building a good reputation among locals.

But in October, a user with the suspected pseudonym"Richard Hill"clicked the first star under an entry for Beales office on Google Maps. It was Bealesfirst rating on Google.

Beale said he hasn't lost any patients since the rating was posted, but he hasn't gained any either.

His lawsuit, though, came with some adverse side effects. Since word of it became public, reviewers have given him more one-star ratings, including at least 11 suchassessmentson Google by Friday. Someone on HealthGrades.com criticized the psychiatrist's complaint of "extreme and constant distress."

"Dr. Beale is supposed to be an expert in emotions and reactions," wrote the poster, proclaiming to hail from Southern California. "I'd say that I would not have any confidence in his ability to help anyone else with their emotions and reactions in life."

The original Google reviewer likely hails from Newport News, Va., the suit stated. Beale noted in an affidavit that the rating came within days of a disagreement with a family member over the care of his aging mother, a retired judge in Newport News.

He enlisted Charleston media and internet publisher Andy Brack, who puts out the Statehouse Report and Charleston Currents. In an affidavit, Brack opined on Beales behalf that one star is akin to saying, I hate it, as opposed to the I love it of five stars.

Any reasonable person looking at the one-star rating, Brack wrote, would likely think of him and the business in a negative manner and might make a decision to not use his medical service.

Google, though, has objected to a subpoena from Abrams that seeks the user's identifying data.

Hayley Berlin, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer hired by the company, told Stevens in a letter that laws in the companys home state of California require that courts carefully weigh a persons First Amendment right to speak anonymously with the concerns of those targeted by such speech.

Google does not require users to provide their real names ... to leave a business review, Berlin wrote. Thus, the conclusion that the review must be 'implicitly false' because (Beale) has never treated a patient by the name of Richard Hill is fundamentally flawed."

But Abrams said commercial speech related to someone's livelihood isn't afforded the same constitutional protections as political opinion that might draw government officials' retribution.

"There's potential that someone's competitor can hide under the cloak of anonymity to do damage," he said, "without any sort of negative consequence for their hate speech."

Reach Andrew Knapp at 843-937-5414. Follow him on Twitter @offlede.

See more here:
Libel lawsuit over West Ashley psychiatrist's 1-star Google rating sparks First Amendment fight, more 1-star reviews - Charleston Post Courier