Pro-Palestinian activists are arguably committing committing the crime of “Conspiracy Against Rights” in their nationwide “encampments” at universities. But they are not being charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Instead, the DOJ is charging former President Donald Trump with that same crime over his alleged role in the Capitol riot. The DOJ is ignoring an actual conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Jews, while chasing a political prosecution.
As Breitbart News noted last year, Special Counsel Jack Smith brought four charges against Trump over the January 6, 2021, riot. One of the laws he is alleged to have violated is 18 U.S.C § 241, “Conspiracy Against Rights.” This law is one of the Enforcement Acts passed in the early 1870s by President Ulysses S. Grant to punish and deter the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) from violating the civil rights of newly-freed black Americans by trying to intimidate them nationwide.
The language of the statute says:
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
(Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in the Trump case.)
It is unclear how “Conspiracy Against Rights” applies to Trump. Smith argued in his indictment last year that Trump’s attempt to have some Electoral College votes overturned and sent back to the state legislatures was a “conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.” But opposing sides in a contested election often seek to have controversial ballots set aside. It is also difficult to see how the rest of the language of the statute applies.
In contrast, consider the pro-Palestinian “encampments” — “on the premises of another.” They prevent students, faculty, and staff of universities from expressing their own, dissenting views. They also interfere with the studies and safety of Jewish students. On Friday, former Harvard President Larry Summers argued that the “encampment” at Harvard violates the civil rights of Jewish students. A lawsuit against Northwestern University makes similar claims.
Moreover, many of the pro-Palestinian activists involved in the “encampments” and protests wear masks — whether keffiyehs or KN95 masks familiar from the coronavirus pandemic. They do so to hide their identities. The language of the “Conspiracy Against Rights” statute explicitly mentions persons who “go in disguise,” as the KKK did and does, because of the insidious nature of such efforts. The “disguises” worn in the “encampments” fit the crime.
Finally, we know that there is a conspiracy across states — and perhaps even internationally — to back the activists. New York Police Department’s Tarik Sheppard said so explicitly on Fox News on Thursday, noting that “agitators” are traveling from campus to campus, and funding may be coming from “around the world.”
A recent lawsuit against the activists claims that they are, in fact, front groups for Hamas, tracing their organization and their funding.
Thus, the pro-Palestinian “encampments” fit all of the elements of “Conspiracy Against Rights.” They also mimic the actions of the KKK in intimidating black Americans: they use masks and inflammatory displays to scare Jews. Trump did nothing of the sort.
Yet Attorney General Merrick Garland and DOJ Civil Rights Division head Kristen Clarke — herself once accused of antisemitism — have been silent on campus antisemitism, while Jack Smith chases Trump.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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