ICNL seeks to create a legal environment that protects and strengthens nonprofits, activists, and philanthropy in the United States. We promote freedoms of association, assembly, and expression by analyzing trends in civic space, tracking state and federal laws affecting protest, and providing nonprofit organizations with information about legal compliance and risk management. The U.S. program also aims to reduce the negative impact on civil society of “foreign agent” legislation and counter-terrorism measures.
United States Program
Be sure to browse our U.S. Protest Law Tracker, Current Trends, and Highlights.
Highlights
Anti-Riot Laws in the United States
Anti-riot laws are often weaponized to target nonviolent protesters. This database catalogs all federal and state anti-rioting and incitement to riot laws in the United States. While these laws vary widely, many are drafted too broadly and can include protected First Amendment activities, resulting in severe penalties for peaceful protesters, organizers, and even bystanders. Such laws can be selectively enforced and have long been used by authorities to target and punish unpopular voices.
Congressional Investigations Targeting Nonprofits
There has been a recent flurry of investigations in the current U.S. House of Representatives that target nonprofit organizations. These investigations cross a range of issues, but create burdens and risks for the nonprofits being investigated, as well as potentially for a much broader swath of the nonprofit community. Learn more about the issue in this ICNL analysis.
State Domestic Terrorism Laws in the United States
U.S. federal law defines domestic terrorism, but provides no penalties. Instead, the offense of domestic terrorism is state-based, and varies considerably across the country. This database provides a summary of the crime of domestic terrorism in each state that criminalizes the offense, along with links to the relevant statutes. The database also indicates if there is also a separate crime of providing support to further an act of terrorism or a terroristic threat offense.
Litigation Challenging New Anti-Protest Laws
Since 2017, states across the U.S. have adopted over forty new laws that restrict the right to peaceful assembly. These laws can criminalize and deter constitutionally protected protest activity, undermining our First Amendment rights. Advocates have challenged many of the new laws, and in some cases courts have found them to be unconstitutional. This page tracks such litigation and provides access to publicly available documents that may be helpful to lawyers, activists, and others seeking to protect assembly rights.
How DHS is Fueling Georgia’s “Terrorism” Crackdown on Cop City Protests
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.
New Restrictions on Protests at Statehouses
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.
Key Resources
Freedom of Assembly
The ability to protest is a cornerstone of U.S. democracy. Browse ICNL’s resources on current threats to the right of assembly in the United States, including legislative briefers, analyses, and reports.
U.S. Protest Law Tracker
Started in 2017, the tracker compiles bills – proposed, enacted, or rejected – that could restrict the right to peaceful assembly around the United States.
Foreign Agents Registration Act
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has been used to target nonprofits, activists, and others. Learn more about the impact on civil society of its broad and vague provisions.
Reforms to Protect Protest Rights
Started in 2020, this page tracks municipal, state, and federal reforms to better protect protest rights including restrictions on tear gas and rubber bullets, efforts to demilitarize the police, and reforms of public order laws that can undermine the freedom of assembly.
State Domestic Terrorism Laws
State domestic terrorism laws have been weaponized to target protesters and activists. This database provides information about all state domestic terrorism laws in the United States.
Compliance & Risk Management
This page provides resources for U.S. nonprofits seeking to comply with federal and state laws as well as learn more about risk management.
Current Trends in U.S. Civic Space
Congressional Investigations Targeting Nonprofits
There has been a recent flurry of investigations in the current U.S. House of Representatives ... Read More
U.S. Current Trend: New Restrictions on Protests at Statehouses
Across the country, governors and lawmakers are using various tools to limit, punish, and deter ... Read More
U.S. Current Trend: New Threats to the Right to Boycott
Politically motivated boycotts have long been a tool for social change in the United States, ... Read More
