newsletter 06/22/22
Combating Extremism and Political Violence
Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection
GEORGETOWN LAW
The hearings of the House Select Committee on January 6th have made clear that threats to our core values and system of government are far from dissipated; last year’s thwarted coup was but a prelude to future democratic assaults. Ensuring accountability for these past attacks is a critical step toward deterring future ones. To that end, last month, ICAP and our partners at Law Forward filed suit in Wisconsin state court against the fraudulent Wisconsin electors and their co-conspirators who sought to have their votes for Trump counted on January 6 instead of those of the legitimate Wisconsin electors. Our lawsuit on behalf of Wisconsin taxpayers, voters, and the true presidential electors, is the first civil suit against any of Trump’s fraudulent electors, who now also find themselves under potential criminal scrutiny. Our novel complaint received extensivemediacoverage as well as praise from legal experts.
Also directed at preserving our democracy, last week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we held our first ever offsite convening, Preparing for the Risk of Political Violence: Threat Assessment, Constitutional Principles, and Legal Solutions, a closed-door convening of 75 bipartisan government and community leaders from across the Great Lakes region. The convening was an outgrowth of ICAP’s widely used guidancedocuments on voter intimidation, private militias, threats to election workers, and protecting public safety while preserving constitutional rights. We aimed to give participants a solid, common understanding of the on-the-ground threat landscape and relevant constitutional principles, with the goal of facilitating a coordinated regional response to emergent political violence. Participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we’re already looking ahead to our next convening this September in the Pacific Northwest. These regional convenings represent a significant expansion of ICAP’s policy and government-support work — an exciting step outside ICAP’s core litigation competencies. (We are also hiring a policy counsel to support these and related efforts, so please send good folks our way!)
In response to the tragic mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, ICAP’s Executive Director, Mary McCord, penned a widely read New York Times op-ed making the case that easy access to semi-automatic assault-style rifles is a national security threat. The op-ed drew from ICAP’s amicus brief on behalf of former national security officials in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Second Amendment case currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. Our brief and the op-ed point out that our country’s permissive gun laws are exploited by foreign terrorist organizations, domestic extremists, and unlawful private militias. Mary also spoke with NPR recently about the role of militias in the January 6 attack.
ICAP has continued to support two “welcoming cities” in Indiana whose policies against entanglement with federal immigration enforcement were challenged in court more than four years ago. Senior Counsel Joe Mead defended those cities in back-to-back arguments in the Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals last week. We also continue to seek justice for a woman shot in the back while fleeing police she thought were trying to carjack her when they approached her car in the early morning hours without identifying themselves. The case is back in the lower courts after ICAP’s Supreme Court Director, Kelsi Brown Corkran, then in private practice, obtained reversal in the U.S. Supreme Court of a previous ruling in favor of the defendant police. And we successfully resolved two other cases involving the police: In one, we obtained a settlement for two protesters who had been charged with crimes in retaliation for posting on social media a photo of an officer who had covered his badge during a racial justice protest. In the other, we scored a victory for police accountability when the Baltimore City Police agreed to provide more transparency in how it evaluates applications for fee waivers by those who seek to obtain public records.
Finally, ICAP is thrilled to welcome Rupa Bhattacharyya as our new Special Litigation Counsel, following her more than two decades of distinguished service at the Justice Department. A consummate public servant, Bhattacharyya most recently helmed the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund since 2016, overseeing the distribution of nearly $8 billion to people harmed by the terror attacks. We’re beyond excited to add a lawyer of Rupa’s caliber and stature to our already formidable litigation team.
Keep up with ICAP on Twitter via @GeorgetownICAP; and suggest what we should take on next via reachICAP@georgetown.edu.With thanks for your continued support, The ICAP Team.