ICNL Senior Legal Advisor Nick Robinson explores Georgia’s recent use of the state’s domestic terrorism statute to charge Cop City protesters. He argues that the Department of Homeland Security needs to take action to ensure that its “domestic violent extremism” policies are not weaponized by local law enforcement against protesters. Learn more about “terrorism” in an era of aggressive policing against protesters in this Just Security article.

Capitol buildings and their surrounding grounds provide demonstrators with a public venue that is not only symbolic but also within the “sight and sound” of representatives who can act on their message and media that can amplify it. Yet across the country, governors and lawmakers are using various tools to limit, punish, and deter demonstrations at state capitols. Explore this issue further in our latest U.S. Current Trend.

While the government has a legitimate interest in combatting riots, anti-rioting laws have a history of abuse, allowing government to bring charges with extreme penalties against protesters, politicians, and other Americans engaged in protected First Amendment activity. They can also lead to costly lawsuits that sap state coffers and waste taxpayer money. These laws should either be better targeted or eliminated. Read the full briefer here.

Protesters face growing government surveillance. ICNL’s briefer Protesting in an Age of Government Surveillance examines how new types of technology used by the government to surveil protests can lead to abuse and deter demonstrators from exercising their First Amendment rights. It then outlines how both courts and lawmakers can respond to this threat.