LOUISIANA, USA — Protest organizers in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi can now be sued if an attendee breaks the law.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court declined to take up a case between an injured police officer and the Black Lives Matter activist who led the protest where that officer was injured.
Here’s the background: DeRay McKesson helped organize a protest in Baton Rouge in July of 2016 over the police killing of Alton Sterling. During the protest, an unidentified protestor threw a rock and hit a Baton Rouge Police Officer. That officer had severe head injuries, and sued McKesson - the organizer – arguing that McKesson knew the protest would get violent.
The lawsuit bounced through the courts for six years. But in June of 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuit could go forward. Judges wrote that McKesson had organized several other protests that turned violent and that he was directing the activity of the protestors.
But this case is tricky. While the officer in Baton Rouge certainly deserves justice, setting legal precedent where a protest organizer is held personally liable for the actions of every single person who shows up, would mean no one with a level head would ever plan a protest again.
Judge Don Willett noted in the court’s opinion that this could even mean protest organizers could be held responsible for the actions of counter-protestors. The ACLU believes it dismantles protections of the constitutional right to protest.
But for now, that ruling stands. It means anyone who organizes a protest in our corner of the country needs to be prepared for major crowd control.
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