FEF Files Amicus Brief In The Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals United States v. Rundo Appeal

On June 17, 2020, FEF filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States v. Rundo, et al. appeal.  With the filing of this amicus, FEF now has filed amicus briefs in Rise Above Movement appeals on both coasts of the USA – on the East Coast, in the Fourth Circuit Miselis case, and the West Coast, in this Ninth Circuit Rundo appeal.  In the Fourth Circuit appeal, the RAM defendants are the appellants, as the lower court rejected their request to declare the Anti Riot Act unconstitutional; in the Ninth Circuit, the government is the appellant, as Judge Cormac Carney for the lower court had declared the Anti-Riot Act unconstitutional and freed the RAM defendants charged in that case.

In FEF’s Rundo amicus brief (attached to this post) seeking affirmance of Judge Carney’s decision, FEF presented several arguments, including:

• The legislative history of the Anti Riot Act shows it was directed at political organizers
• The Act is not susceptible of judicial construction or severance, i.e., the court can’t “fix it.”
• The Act is logically incoherent and does not even describe a criminal act.
• The government’s use of the act over 52 years underscores the Act’s impact on First Amendment activities.