The 9th Circuit reinstates charges against four men accused of attacks at California rallies.
Robert Paul Rundo, Robert Boman and Aaron Eason were awaiting trial at the time of the decision striking down the law. Tyler Laube had pleaded guilty in the case but was permitted to withdraw his plea.
Prosecutors said the men traveled to liberal rallies in places like Huntington Beach and Berkeley, Calif., where they attacked demonstrators and in one case, a journalist.
The 9th Circuit panel agreed with the lower court that the statute intruded on protected speech, but the appeals court said the proper course was not to strike down the entire law. Instead, the appeals judges said courts should simply ignore the statute’s prohibitions on urging, encouraging, promoting or organizing a riot. That left standing bans on inciting, participating in or carrying on a riot, as well as committing acts of violence in connection with a riot.
The ruling from the San Francisco-based court largely tracks with a decision last year from the Richmond, Va.,-based 4th Circuit on Rise Above Movement members who pleaded guilty to attacking counterprotesters at the 2017 “Unite the Right” Rally in Charlottesville, Va.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/04/federal-court-law-white-supremacists-473660