As we near the end of 2024, many environmental and social justice defenders feel a sense of foreboding regarding the next several years. At CLDC we are often looking to our movement history in order to better understand what the future holds. Remember that fear often leads to inaction and self-censorship, which is a victory for the State — this is a tried and true strategy that is as old as political bodies and resistance movements. It’s important not to succumb to the State’s attempt to overwhelm and shut down the momentum of the peoples’ movements. The stakes are higher than they’ve been in living memory, and we have a responsibility to be smarter and more strategic than we’ve ever been. The Constitution remains intact as a basis for legal defenses despite courts stacked with conservative activist judges, and the fact that the State flexes on criminalization and authoritarianism does not mean it will succeed. Movement lawyers like us at CLDC have seen times like these before (think post-9/11 and the Patriot Act). We’ve had wins, we’ve had losses, but perhaps most importantly, we’re here and still working for the change we want to see in the world.

Although no organization can possibly track all the movement gains and losses within the legal system in the U.S and/or abroad, we do our best as a small group of movement lawyers and legal workers to distill hundreds of cases per year into some trends we believe are pertinent for movement resilience and strategy as we look forward. Here are just a few of our observations from 2024.

  1. Political Activism and the Surveillance State

During 2024, relevant to all aspects of environmental and social justice movements, we saw a substantial increase in the number of cases brought by the State where digital surveillance and seizure were the primary sources of evidence used to identify activists and prosecute them. In several CLDC cases this year, the State (cops, FBI, prosecutors) just sat back in front of a computer screen and compiled online video and photographic evidence (often posted by fellow activists). In at least one of our cases that went to trial this year (Alissa Azar), the prosecutor relied on far-right extremist trolls to provide him with Twitter and Instagram posts that had long been removed by the person who posted them (people within the alt right took screen shots of the posts when they were first put online and created their own archive, which they sent to prosecutors to be used against leftist defendants at trial).

The fact that prosecutors were willing to try to use this type of dubiously sourced evidence is deeply troubling for a myriad of reasons. In our Florida Jane’s Revenge/FACE Act cases, problematic evidence included surveillance camera footage on the buildings, as well as numerous defendant cellphones seized by FBI. In one instance a teenager was threatened by the FBI as they were raiding their home with: “either give us your mom’s cellphone password or you will all go to jail.” The child did so, and the FBI then had access to the defendant’s undeleted Signal groups and threads. At co-defendant Oropesa’s federal trial, the most significant (and interesting) testimony came from an FBI agent from CAST (the Cellular Analysis Survey Team). He spent a long time explaining how they allegedly tracked and identified suspects from “tower dumps” of cell phone data. Lesson: never post or send anything you don’t want to see used against you or your community. Use Faraday bags.

This year we also learned Exxon outsourced hacking to break into email accounts of lawyers for environmental organizations and have been citing documents stolen in this way in litigation, which certainly should remind all of the risk of using unencrypted/not-secure communication platforms (e.g. most email; Google/Gmail; Slack, Meta). (Reuters).

The overall takeaway from the significant increase in online surveillance, seizures, criminalization, and resulting movement harm over the last year instructs us to simply return to the fundamentals of security culture — should you even write it down or send/post it at all? Instead, consider making a Signal call or return to face-to-face communications if possible (while leaving your phone at home or in a Faraday bag). Engage in document retention and destruction practices on a regular basis, and use trusted open-source encrypted platforms as much as possible — especially for political work. Check out our Digital/Security Resource page for helpful and important content.

  1. When Everything is “Terrorism,” the Word Holds No Real Meaning

It used to be that the word “terrorism” had a definition and meaning in legal-land. After the 9/11 attacks where 15 men from Saudi Arabia, two from United Arab Emirates, and two from Egypt and Lebanon flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the federal government exploited Americans’ security fears, and passed the USA Patriot Act. Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. No. 107-52) expanded the definition of terrorism to cover “domestic,” as opposed to international, terrorism; international terrorism was the only type of “terrorism” prior to this law. A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act “dangerous to human life” that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.

In the last year we saw antifascists, transgender activists, reproductive justice defenders, Cop City resisters, and Palestinian human rights/anti-genocide individuals and organizations all labeled as “terrorists,” even though none of them engaged in acts that fall within the federal definition above. In the 1950’s, the State would label you or your organization as communists and strip you of rights and privileges, as a part of their campaign against the growing anti-capitalist ideologies sweeping the world. In the 2005 era, the State attempted to stomp out the burgeoning anti-capitalist environmental and animal rights movements by prosecuting activists engaged in economic sabotage and other effective anti-corporate campaigns (e.g. SHAC) as domestic terrorism — seeking terrorist enhancements for crimes that never harmed any living things. Currently, far right spin doctors attempt to augment their weak ideological positions by labeling anyone they disagree with as a terrorist, thus rendering the term meaningless. As a result, the term has lost its significance as a term describing atrocious crimes that cause massive human casualties. When the T-word is used to describe tagging a closed anti-choice business with pro-choice graffiti, or setting off a smoke bomb or firecracker outside a building, or simply calling for an end to genocide and war, everyone is less safe from actual terroristic threats and the word is rendered inconsequential.

Jane’s Revenge/ South Florida 4:

U.S. v. Amber Smith-Stewart, Annarella Rivera, Gabriela Oropesa and Caleb Freestone (U.S. District Court Middle District Florida (Tampa)). In this 2024 benchmark case, CLDC defended Amber as part of a joint defense team against the aggressive far-right, misogynist, anti-choice, political-based prosecutorial action that was concocted between Florida politicians, federal prosecutors, and anti-choice religious extremists who sought to use the FACE Act for the first time against pro-choice activists for very minor criminal mischief (graffiti).

The FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) was enacted in 1994 to protect doctors and patients from the upwelling of murder, fire-bombings, and violent assaults perpetrated by the violent anti-choice/religious extremist movement during the 80’s and 90’s. The four reproductive rights activists in the Florida case were federally prosecuted for spray-painting the outside of three “crisis pregnancy centers” (fake “clinics”) in Florida in June 2022, following the Dobbs decision and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Florida Attorney General and one of the fake clinics also filed separate federal civil lawsuits against the four, alleging civil RICO and FACE Act violations; fortunately, we were able to get those two civil lawsuits dismissed.

Because the four defendants used political slogans such as “Jane’s Revenge,” a loose-knit, decentralized, leaderless, pro-choice movement, the Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody seized the opportunity to highlight the defendants’ antifascist political beliefs at every turn. AG Moody concocted a “major crime” of tagging fake clinics with easily removable spray paint, for purely political reasons. In perhaps the weakest use of the federal law enacted to protect pro-choice reproductive healthcare workers and patients, Moody and Biden’s Dept. of Justice used the FACE Act to prosecute these young activists with crimes carrying a 10-year prison term.

Fortunately, we were able to prevent the four from being the first pro-choice activists convicted under the FACE Act; all four were instead convicted of conspiracy, in three non-cooperation plea deals and one trial verdict. However, the fact that tagging was turned into a federal crime should be jaw-dropping. Amber Smith-Stewart and Annarella Rivera were both sentenced to 30 days in federal custody and 60 days of house arrest; Caleb Freestone was sentenced to a year and a day in prison; and Gabriela Oropesa was just convicted after going to trial and will be sentenced in March 2025. The four remained steadfast to their political ideologies, non-cooperation, and solidarity with each other and their communities, despite the fact that their extreme prosecutions were unexpected in severity.

Trend: Fed review of social media, cellphone seizures, videos, photographs, geolocation tracking, and an early “knock and talk” with one defendant, gave the State the evidence it used to prosecute and convict.

Peppy & Krystal 

United States v. Brian and Krystal DiPippa — On April 18, 2023, University of Pittsburgh approved outwardly transphobic speakers Brad Palumbo and Michael Knowles to speak on and “debate” the subject, “Should Transgenderism be regulated by law?” When a married couple, Krystal and Brian “Peppy” DiPippa, amongst an estimated 250 community members, protested the transphobes on the Pitt campus, the State alleged that one of them had lit two homemade smoke devices and a commercially available firework, while the other provided cover outside the student center. Again, what would normally have been a State misdemeanor charge became a major federal investigation, under the pretense that a “civil disorder” had occurred. The investigation included a raid of the defendants’ home by the ATF, FBI, and state and local police, resulting in a large seizure of computer equipment. Much like a terrorism enhancement, using the “civil disorder” statute to charge the DiPippas justified (in the eyes of the law) an elaborate federal prosecution and draconian sentencing for the alleged crime of throwing fireworks and “smoke bombs.”

Peppy, facing charges of (1) conspiracy, (2) obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder (max 10 years), and (3) use of an explosive to commit a federal felony (10 year mandatory minimum), has remained incarcerated without bail to this day, and faced a sentence of over a decade in federal custody. Krystal, although not charged with the explosives felony, could have received an equal sentence to Peppy based on the conspiracy charge. The police had previously executed a warrantless search of the couple’s garbage, where they found printed information discussing the Atlanta “Stop Cop City” campaign, as well as other “anarchist” zines. The seizure of these items as “evidence” points to an overtly politically motivated use of the “civil disorder” statute, in an attempt to not only scare rank and file activists into submission by fear of spending decades in prison, but also to send a clear message that prosecutors and judges are willing to highlight political beliefs to keep activists confined pre-trial without options for bail. The judge in this case cited “sentiments supporting anarchism” as his justification for keeping Mr. DiPippa locked up.

The DiPippas’ support page states: “Peppy and Krystal changed their pleas at a hearing on September 10th. Peppy pled guilty to counts 1 (conspiracy) and 2 (obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder); the third count, which carried a 10-year mandatory minimum, was dropped. Krystal pled guilty to count 2. Krystal’s plea means she’ll be on probation for 3 years but will not serve any jail time. By statute, Peppy’s plea carries a 60-month sentence. However, given time served and federal prison guidelines, we estimate that he will serve approximately 24-30 months, with the hopes that it will be less than that” (Peppy and Krystal’s Blog). Sentencing will take place January 6, 2025.

Trend: On-scene surveillance video; searches of trash; State use of anarchist, antifascist political interests as basis for denial of bail; and major computer seizures led to prosecutions and non-cooperation plea deals. Five years in federal prison for lighting a smoke bomb and firework outdoors is clearly intended to chill and punish leftists in solidarity with GLBTQ2SAIA+ people.

False Equivalency in the Courtroom — Prosecutor as Fash Surrogate

Oregon v. Alissa Azar

The main takeaway from this jury trial was the State’s repugnant trial theme that Proud Boys and antifascists are equally violent and culturally corrosive. This shameful moral equivalency argument is completely unsupported by the facts of the case.

On June 18, 2021, acclaimed independent journalist Alissa Azar (who specializes in covering issues of Fascist organizing and police misconduct cases in the Pacific Northwest) arrived at Clackamette Park in Oregon City, Oregon (right outside of Portland) to cover a highly publicized Proud Boy rally. She ended up being forced to defend herself from an attack by deploying her mace as she attempted to retrieve her belongings before escaping the park. The State charged her with Riot, Disorderly Conduct, and Unlawful Use of Mace. Alissa asserted self-defense and choice of evils. The State, working hand-in-hand with far-right extremists, concocted a theory that Alissa was a riot participant because she is a journalist who holds personal antifascist ideology. The State also repeatedly exaggerated and fabricated a narrative that both Proud Boys and antifascists came to do battle in a public park — despite video evidence demonstrating that many antifascists were shown filming, observing, and witnessing the recruitment efforts of this far-right violent street gang.

Significantly, throughout the trial Deputy District Attorney Joshua Cutino worked with alt-right/fascists who fed him information and social media posts that had been long removed from the web but had been archived by PNW-based far-right/fascist actors and sent to the DA. Thankfully, the trial court refused to admit most of this “evidence.”

The 12-person jury found Alissa guilty of riot and second degree disorderly conduct. The jury returned a hung verdict on the third charge of unlawful use of mace – an inconsistent verdict, because this underlying act was a necessary component to find guilt on the riot charge.

At sentencing, the judge ordered Alissa to be immediately handcuffed, and sentenced her to 10 days in jail. Two troubling probation conditions were imposed on Alissa and are being seen in many other cases around the country right now:

* While at any public gathering, whether lawful or unlawful, defendant shall not possess firearms, rocks, paint-filled balloons, fireworks, explosive devices, laser pointers, bear spray, paint ball guns, airsoft guns, batons, bats, clubs, knives, shields, padded/hardened gloves, sling shots, wrist rockets, body armor, tactical vests, brass knuckles, or similar objects that may cause physical harm. (In Alissa’s case, her unprosecuted attackers had these items, but she had none of them.)

* Consent to and cooperate with GPS monitoring when deemed necessary by the probation officer. (Tracking an independent journalist who often receives anonymous tips for news stories is a grave threat to the Fifth Estate).

This prosecution illustrates a trend of silencing journalists and chilling their right to observe and report on events of public concern. To our knowledge, Alissa is the first Oregon journalist to be charged as a riot participant while reporting on the news. An appeal of Alissa’s prosecution and sentence is underway.

Trend: Social media and livestream postings gave the State evidence used to prosecute and convict; manipulation of fact and reality by a county prosecutor was disturbing. Azar is another target of the criminalization of anti-fascist beliefs we see in jurisdictions that openly lean to the extreme right. The false manipulation of the historic term “antifascist” and the demonization of “Antifa” by the extreme right harkens back to the McCarthy era once again.

Other cases or trends we followed this year:

* Foreign Agent laws/prosecutions: U.S. v. African Peoples Socialist Party/Uhuru Movement (Hands Off Uhuru). In the same Florida federal jurisdiction as the FACE prosecutions, U.S. Attorneys again blatantly target political adversaries by bizarrely accusing longtime black activists of being coerced by Russians. At trial, all defendants were found not guilty of being “agents of a foreign government” or “Russian agents,” for exercising their right to free speech to advocate for the liberation of African people. They were found guilty of conspiracy (the easiest charge for feds to get convictions). At sentencing, despite U.S. Attorneys seeking lengthy prison terms, none were sentenced to prison, instead sentenced to community service and probation.

* Cop City Atlanta: Fulton & DeKalb County District Attorneys wouldn’t file RICO charges against activists as Georgia’s Attorney General and governor demanded, so the AG filed those charges himself (and is now running for governor). This is a clear example of the AG appearing to do the bidding of the Atlanta police union. Atlanta court victories this year included the Atlanta Solidarity Fund obtaining dismissal of frivolous money laundering and charity fraud charges; Georgia State University protestors having their charges dropped; and the State consistently being chastised by the court for numerous discovery violations and other legal improprieties. We still wait for Ayla King’s appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court to be decided before their trial resumes (she did not waive speedy trial and is first in line for trial), and then “group one” of the Cop City defendants will proceed. This includes the Atlanta Solidarity Fund board members. Unfortunately, more than 50 people wait in limbo under pretrial conditions that have burdened them since September 2023. But the movement to stop cop cities around the U.S. continues.

* Unconstitutional, draconian conditions of pretrial release and/or probation: These include bans on protesting (including lawfully); orders to remain in the state or even the county; house detention; no contact with co-defendants; GPS ankle monitoring; and very high or no bail for some first-time offenders accused solely of property damage.

* Doxing, de-platforming, and de-banking: Many people, particularly students protesting Israel’s genocidal war, were seriously doxed by far-right extremists in the past year. Nonprofit organizations and individual activists working on issues ranging from Palestine to Cop City to animal rights, had their accounts closed by big corporate banks after merely being accused of crimes. Banks claimed they did not need a reason to terminate the accounts. Some organizations found their e-commerce and banking platform cancelled because of support for such causes. This is today’s version of McCarthy-era blacklisting.

* Remember the importance of local movement media to obtain public records and reporting on the political events in your community. Atlanta Community Press Collective is a sterling model of how to dig in and do public records requests, follow political processes, and provide movement-side reporting that gets national attention. (ATL Press Collective).

* In-person trainings and roadshows, along with movement news and publications, will be needed more and more as the state clamps down on, and highly surveils or shuts down online communication platforms.

Also worth mentioning: Remember to look at the international movements where protest has been used as a bulwark to democracy. The governments of South Korea, Serbia, and Bangladesh acquiesced to protestors’ demands this year. In the U.K. and Australia, climate defenders, including Extinction Rebellion activists, took bold actions against State and corporate targets, although we saw many cases result in lengthy jail and prison sentences. 

  1. The Criminalization of Pro-Palestine/Anti-Genocide/Anti-War Movements Across the U.S.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

— Pastor Martin Niemöller[1]

Advocating for an end to war and genocide in Palestine is not antisemitic or racist, it is ethical human rights advocacy. The spin being hurled by far-right conservatives, Zionists, and others is a blatant manipulation of historic truth that only cheapens the collective global voice for justice in service to short-sighted, agenda-based authoritarianism. Instead, we want to focus on a few main takeaways that are relevant for all environmental and social justice movements in the U.S.

  1. Student campus repression and content-based persecution

In 2024 the legitimate public and student critique of the Israeli government’s active genocide against the Palestinian people took a dark turn, as campus police and law enforcement agencies engaged in a level of State-sanctioned repression that perhaps hasn’t been witnessed since the civil rights/Vietnam war era. Young college students and their allies, including faculty and staff, have faced content-based discrimination,[2] censorship, and other First Amendment violations on campuses across the country. Students have been targeted with fascist violence while police stood by allowing it to occur (e.g. UCLA), and many campus administrators demanded that militarized police quell student protests with excessive and unlawful violence. Students, and especially campus organizers, have been targeted and intimidated with student “disciplinary proceedings,” including suspensions, expulsions, and the termination of pro-Palestine campus groups, making a mockery out of the concepts of unbiased justice and due process, and teaching students grotesque lessons about what discrimination and bias look like in the current political reality. In addition, courageous faculty and staff acting in solidarity with students have been fired or disciplined for merely witnessing police violence against students, or attempting to support or advise young organizers on risks and realities of organizing against genocide and war on U.S. campuses.

At deeply liberal, Quaker-founded Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, 11 students faced expulsion after being accused of assaulting staff during a protest demanding the school divest from Israeli war making industries (they were accused of assaulting staff by using a bullhorn to amplify sound at the demonstration). At Columbia University in NYC, when students created a Gaza encampment (like many across the U.S.), campus President Minouche Shafik authorized the NYPD to violently enter the campus, dismantle the occupation, and arrest students en masse. Columbia had not authorized such police presence since 1968 protests arising from the Vietnam War. Hundreds of students were suspended, graduation was cancelled, and Shafik was gone by August. Columbia students led the country in further protests around the country: Pro-Palestinian Campus Occupations.

On May 15, 2024, in a showing of solidarity and intersectional organizing work at the University of California’s state-wide system, United Auto Workers Local 4811 — the union representing 48,000 graduate students across the entire State of California — voted to strike, because the union (rightly) claimed the government had taken discriminatory actions against students who exercised their constitutionally protected right to free speech. The union also claimed the University system had created an unsafe work environment by allowing students to be attacked by law enforcement and other far-right/Zionist extremists. Strikes and encampments spread to most of the UC system across the state, resulting in thousands of arrests. Campus administrators relied on the tired tactic of claiming outside agitators, and rushed through administrative changes to campus rules and the punishments available to Universities to target student “agitators.”

  1. Criminal prosecutions and punishments

State and municipal criminal charges have been filed against pro-Palestinian human rights and anti-war activists around the country. Almost 1000 arrests occurred on April 15, 2024, in a global day of action against Israel’s genocidal war. Many of these activists received diversions or other minor convictions and sentences. But that is not true everywhere: in Merrimack, New Hampshire, four activists who protested against weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems of America were convicted and sentenced to 60 days in jail. (The Intercept).

  1. SLAPPs and “Lawfare” lawsuits

Many of you may have heard of “SLAPPS” – Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation. A similar animal is increasingly popular “Lawfare.” We’ve seen an increase in both, brought by far right “liti-bully” attorneys targeting Palestine human rights groups, left-leaning climate and social justice activists, bail funds, and progressive funders. Numerous spurious lawsuits have been filed across the country for illegitimate legal purposes meant to censor and chill those who oppose genocide and war crimes perpetuated by the Israeli government against Palestinian families. Many of these lawsuits target content-based protected activities and are simply feeble attempts to control political narratives and scare human rights activists and their allies from taking a stand against what the international legal community has found to be genocide and war crimes. The far-right law firms filing these lawfare cases are profiting off of censorship and shutting down the healthy diverse democratic debate of ideas within the U.S.

  1. Nonprofit killer bill; abusive legislative action to prop up Zionist/land theft/genocidal war machine

The Nonprofit Killer bill (H.R. 9495 – “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act”) would empower the Secretary of the Treasury to designate any nonprofit as a “terrorist supporting organization” and revoke its tax-exempt status. According to a statement signed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, American Muslims for Palestine, and others, “[t]his bill was designed to criminalize organizations and activists who oppose the U.S.’s unconditional support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and the slaughter of Lebanese civilians.” “We will continue to stand firm in protecting all organizations’ freedom to speak and operate without fear of political retribution.”

The pro-Netanyahu administration and far-right media manipulation has been jaw-dropping. Instead of calling the Palestine protests what they are — anti-genocide, anti-war crime, anti-land theft — that have been ongoing since October 2023, they attempt to frame these protests as antisemitic or anti-Jewish. This is despite the ongoing and growing participation of many Jewish groups who are mortified by the atrocities being done in the name of the state of Israel. It is the government, not the religion that is being targeted — and most know that — but that doesn’t stop the slanderous attacks being used as a basis for prohibitions on First Amendment rights on campuses and municipalities around the country.

Currently Republican/Trump racist agendas are focused on Palestinian human rights orgs, but don’t let that fool you — this is a slippery slope that leads to First Amendment violations that will go after many more facets of environmental and social justice political movements that dare to oppose the authoritarian fascistic regime about to occupy the White House. Remember in May 2020 when Trump announced he was going to designate “antifa” as a terrorist organization? Even the Department of Justice at the time admitted there is no domestic terrorism statute or legal authority for the U.S. to designate any domestic organization as a terrorist group. The idea that the United States would designate antifascist political organizations and activists as terrorists is completely repugnant and flies in the face of historical realities, where antifascists fought back against dictators and fascist regimes around the world, back when everyone agreed that fascism was the number one threat to democracy and freedom.

But what Trump and his evil-doers don’t understand is that we do this work because it is the right thing to do and we believe in the causes we are fighting for. Taking away the tax-exempt status of organizations (when most Americans are no longer wealthy enough to actually take tax deductions for their charitable gifts) will not stop movement organizations from this work. Yes, foundations may need to find new ways to provide grants to nonprofits targeted by fascism, but the nonprofit killer bill, a workaround to Trump’s ignorant threat to designate “antifa” as a terrorist org, will not stop most of us who will continue to work tirelessly to strive for a better world. We will defend U.S. constitutional principles, including the Bill of Rights, which defends minority views from censorship by the majority (or attempted dictators).

Other trends worth mentioning include mask bans (a State response to activists anonymizing at protests); local/state laws creating felony-level crimes for blocking traffic. Would the Selma to Montgomery Marches be felonies in this modern era?

We have entered an era in the decline of a fading empire where vast majorities of the population don’t raise an eyebrow when they hear of politicians, university presidents, and attorneys general attempting to frame popular protest – even against the mass killing of civilians — as either fringe anarchists rising up, or as a wave of antisemitism sweeping the country. The fact remains, regardless which party occupies the White House, the U.S. government is deeply and uniquely complicit in the Palestinian genocide. The U.S. has the political and financial power to end Israeli war crimes, and Americans have a moral obligation to make that happen. During 2024, CLDC developed and provided new Palestine movement-related trainings and legal support to college campuses and community groups; defended over 20 criminal cases; and took on defense of an ongoing SLAPP case against the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights; and we continue to stand strongly beside our friends and allies at Palestine Legal and other human rights orgs on the frontline of this global struggle.

  1. The State of SLAPP and Lawfare in the U.S.

In 2024, SLAPP suits were a critical challenge for activists, journalists, and community organizers. SLAPPs continue to be used to intimidate, silence, and retaliate against individuals or groups exercising their First Amendment rights and engaging in advocacy campaigns against rich and powerful liti-bullies.​​​​​​​ We continue to see SLAPPs filed by big industries — energy, agriculture, and other extractive entities, joined now by far-right/Zionist think tanks trying to silence their adversaries by “forum shopping” (seeking the most sympathetic courts or judges to hear the case). These lawsuits combine allegations against behavior and speech that is clearly protected by the First Amendment, with spurious tort (injury) allegations, in an attempt to avoid the anti-SLAPP laws. We have also seen SLAPPs filed against funders of activist work, allies, and bail funds — even in states that don’t have a cash bail system (as in the Chicago A15 SLAPP — more info coming soon).

 

Ongoing SLAPPs:

The ancient 2016 SLAPP suit brought by Energy Transfer Partners against land defenders resisting the construction of a climate-destroying oil pipeline in North Dakota continues, despite the fact that all federal claims and numerous organizations and individuals were dismissed by the federal court (including RICO allegations). The protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL/Standing Rock) were largely successful and the pipeline was ultimately found to be illegal. However, a sliver of ETP’s SLAPP suit continues in North Dakota state court — ETP continues to spend presumably millions of dollars going after Greenpeace U.S. for their minor role in the Standing Rock struggle — clearly going after the “Big Green” org to scare the rest of the movement into submission. As a result of this lawsuit and ETP’s scorched-earth discovery, in the past year many ally organizations and individuals were targeted by ETP with third-party[3] subpoenas and demands for document production. Fortunately, with the help of movement lawyers including those at the CLDC, we successfully fought back against these bully tactics, preserved movement information, and resisted ETP’s attempted discovery expansion that was clearly meant to chill activism and isolate Greenpeace from the larger movement.

In Virginia state court Mountain Valley Pipeline filed a SLAPP against many individual activists; Rising Tide North America; Appalachians Against Pipelines, it’s been a mixed bag. This lawsuit alleges that a nonprofit organization funded activists and that a campaign was a recruiter, CLDC as able to get a dismissal of the claims against our client, RTNA, which was alleged to have helped fundraise for the campaign. AAP was accused of recruiting activists to the campaign, but was never properly served and was therefore not hauled into court. But many of the individual activists who were arrested for engaging in tree-sitting and other typical non-violent protest tactics against an oil/gas pipeline have endured burdensome discovery shenanigans, and continue to resist providing movement strategy and intelligence to a corporation who would use and share the information to the detriment of all climate campaigns.

Several SLAPPs have also been filed over the last year or so against pro-Palestine organizations, antifascist activists and trans organizers. Most of these cases are slowly making their way through the legal system, so stay tuned for more updates.

The good news is that more states continue to pass anti-SLAPP laws, and a federal anti-SLAPP law is now in the mix (thanks to Protect the Protest and others). In May and July of 2024, Minnesota and Pennsylvania respectively were the 8th and 9th states to adopt a version of the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (“UPEPA”). This law was enacted to prevent the continued abuse of spurious litigation by corporations in efforts to silence activists and bleed resistance movements of limited resources by tying them up in never-ending court battles. Maine, Minnesota, Kentucky, Oregon, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Utah, and Washington all have some version of this law now on their books. (Uniform Laws).

SLAPPs continue to be a failed strategy for most of the liti-bullies that attempt to use them to silence their critics. At CLDC, we defend targeted groups for free, and help find other lawyers who do the same so that SLAPPs don’t cost SLAPPed organizations money that should be spent on their program work. We also support and ensure that targeted orgs have media and campaign support so that they are not silenced. And we work in coalitions, such as Protect the Protest and Protect Dissent Network, alongside many other orgs from around the country, to ensure that bullies know that “an attack on one is an attack on all,” and we have each other’s backs.

Trend: Desperate corporations who will never win an argument in the court of public opinion continue to pay greedy law firms to file bullshit lawsuits for illegitimate reasons. Whether they are called SLAPPs or Lawfare, they are capitalist attempts to undermine the judicial system to try to crush dissent with dollars and nonsense.

2024’s Conclusion: We are in historic times that will test the mettle of us all. In looking at history, remember that Trump’s first regime attempted a “shock and awe” approach at battering the left with hundreds of outrageous threats and drivel that rightfully gave folks a reason to be pissed each and every day. We know this and more will happen again. We already see it unfolding. Remember during Trump’s previous administration when he inquired to his then Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, “Can’t you just shoot them, shoot them in the legs or something?” when referring to protests in D.C. following the murder of George Floyd. Fortunately, the answer he received was a very clear “No.”

Remember to focus on the cause and work you are engaged in to make the planet a better place to live. Be careful about being reactionary and distracted by the daily threats tossed around –whether it’s legislation, or some other draconian rollback or roundup. Focus, breathe, and keep doing the necessary organizing to uphold a vibrant civic space. U.S. and state constitutions will still remain in place as a floor, regardless of what Trump may attempt to do. Overall, the number of activists that were prosecuted during Trump’s first regime was not significantly higher than at other recent time periods, and those activists did not receive inordinate criminal convictions or punishments. And remember, if the adversary — be it fascist, authoritarian, far-right extremist, or capitalist-elite — thinks that one of their tactics is successful for them, they will double down on that tactic and we will see the playbook used again and again.

At CLDC we have worked hard this past year to put systems and measures in place that will allow us to be brave and bold in defending targeted activists. We are ready to defend the constitutional and civil rights of environmental and social justice movements to the best of our abilities. We will be hiring an additional criminal defense lawyer in the upcoming months and hope to continue to add firepower to our team in 2025. We’ve been down this road before and we are not afraid. We’ve got your back until all are free!!

[1] This 1946 quote originated after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. After the war, Niemöller traveled on a lecture tour in the western zones of Allied-occupied Germany and publicly confessed to his own inaction and indifference to the fate of many of the Nazis’ victims. He explained that in the first years of the Nazi regime he had remained silent as the Nazis persecuted other Germans, especially members of leftist political movements with whom he disagreed.

[2] This is a legal term meaning discrimination based on the content of the speech, as opposed to rules that are neutrally applied.

[3] An individual or group who is not a defendant in the lawsuit, but plaintiff attempts to draw them into the lawsuit and compel them to provide documents or information.

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This blog was written by CLDC’s Director of Litigation & Advocacy, Lauren Regan.