Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Top Trump Official Asks Feds to Charge Protesters with Sedition 
Peoples Dispatch Staff
23 Sep 2020
Top Trump Official Asks Feds to Charge Protesters with Sedition 
Top Trump Official Asks Feds to Charge Protesters with Sedition 

The rarely used statute could put protesters accused of using violence in prison for up to 20 years.

“The charge does not require evidence of any purported plot against the state.”

The administration of president Donald Trump has directed federal prosecutors to aggressively pursue cases against protesters accused of violence. In a memo emailed to federal attorneys, sent out on Thursday, September 17, the US Justice Department has instructed prosecutors to also make use of the rarely used criminal sedition charges against protesters when required.

The memo was sent by deputy attorney general Jeffrey A. Rosen. The email stated that both he and attorney general William Barr agreed that the use of charges of “seditious conspiracy” was appropriate against the supposedly violent protesters. The memo comes a day after reports revealed a similar push by Barr, a Trump appointee, for using the sedition charges against protesters in a phone call to federal prosecutors last week.

Rosen also goes ahead and tells attorneys that the application of Section 2384 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which deals with sedition, does not require evidence of any purported plot against the state. He argued that the critics of this section are not aware of its broad scope and that it is proper to apply it on various acts challenging the federal government’s authority.

“The section can be used when ‘a group has conspired to take a federal courthouse or other federal property by force.’”

According to the Associated Press, who accessed the memo, Rosen also gives hypothetical situations where the section can be used, such as when “a group has conspired to take a federal courthouse or other federal property by force.” He also cited acts that involve obstructing law enforcement agencies as an example.

Section 2384 is a rarely used section of the US criminal code and carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. It was often reserved only for individuals or organizations involved in actively attempting to violently overthrow the government. The suggested expansion of what can be defined as sedition can be used against hundreds of citizens who resisted federal law enforcement agencies in response to repressive tactics.

According to reports, over 300 demonstrators have been charged with federal crimes, during the course of the protests. Civil rights advocates have pointed out that many of these charges are either exaggerated claims by law enforcement agencies or completely trumped up.

This article previously appeared in Peoples Dispatch.

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]   

Black Lives Matter movement

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Trial of Black Activist Dedan Waciuri as a Violation of Human Rights
Black Alliance For Peace
Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Trial of Black Activist Dedan Waciuri as a Violation of Human Rights
07 December 2021
The state targets Black activists who exercise their right to speak and assemble freely.
Over 100 Anti-Protest Bills Have Been Introduced Since George Floyd Rebellion
Ella Fasslier
Over 100 Anti-Protest Bills Have Been Introduced Since George Floyd Rebellion
23 June 2021
The new laws are part of a larger trend of conservative, right-wing efforts at the state level designed to counter the goals of social movements.
How Black Lives Matter Changed the American Conversation About Israel and Palestine
Marya Hannun
How Black Lives Matter Changed the American Conversation About Israel and Palestine
26 May 2021
The surge of attention to the Israeli occupation is unimaginable without last year’s “George Floyd” protests.
Black Lives Matter Inland Empire Announces Break WIth BLM Global Network
Former Inland Empire BLM
Black Lives Matter Inland Empire Announces Break WIth BLM Global Network
10 February 2021
Black Lives Matter Inland Empire, in an open letter, last week announced its departure from the cash-heavy Black Lives Global Network.
BLM Chapters Demand “Accountability” from Trio that Cashed in on the Movement
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
BLM Chapters Demand “Accountability” from Trio that Cashed in on the Movement
03 December 2020
Ten chapters of the national Black Lives Matter organization are in open revolt against the individuals that have treated the mass movement as thei
Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform
Jay Willis
Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform
14 October 2020
Democratic mayors denounce Trump’s brutality but fail to keep their own cops from beating and gassing protesters. 
Fourteen Martyrs in the Struggle Against Racist Terror and Trumpism-Fascism
Paul Street
Fourteen Martyrs in the Struggle Against Racist Terror and Trumpism-Fascism
16 September 2020
Their names are not as familiar as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but these victims have paid the ultimate price, dying in the line of anti-racis
The NBA Strike Brings the Counterinsurgency War on Black Liberation Movement to Basketball
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
The NBA Strike Brings the Counterinsurgency War on Black Liberation Movement to Basketball
09 September 2020
When NBA players threatened to disrupt business as usual the ruling class deployed perhaps its most effective weapon of counterinsurgency: Barack O
Storming the Bastille: #BlackLivesMatter, “Allies” and the Fear of Black Revolt
Kathryn Bedecarré
Storming the Bastille: #BlackLivesMatter, “Allies” and the Fear of Black Revolt
15 July 2020
Does the belatedness and ubiquity/banality of allyship echo an anxiety about the enormous restraint that African Americans have exercised?

More Stories


  • Moroccans Protest Normalization of Ties with Israel
    Peoples Dispatch
    Moroccans Protest Normalization of Ties with Israel
    07 Dec 2021
    Governments choose to make deals that often do not reflect the wishes of the people. Normalization of relations with Israel elicited protests in Morocco, the latest state to act agains
  • Barbados: the Long Road to the Republic
    Richard Drayton
    Barbados: the Long Road to the Republic
    07 Dec 2021
    The nation of Barbados recently became a republic, severing its ties with the British crown. The road to independence began years earlier as part a wider Caribbean movement.
  • China is Not Colonizing Africa
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    China is Not Colonizing Africa
    01 Dec 2021
    International media cannot be trusted to give accurate information. Skepticism is especially warranted when China is the topic and allegations of colonizing Africa make headlines.
  • Interview: Malcolm X and Young Socialist, 1965
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    Interview: Malcolm X and Young Socialist, 1965
    01 Dec 2021
    A 1965 interview with Malcolm X demonstrates how his encounters in Africa had a profound impact on his thinking about the domestic struggles of Africans in the Americas.
  • U.S. military outposts, port facilities, and other areas of access in Africa, 2002-2015 (Nick Turse/TomDispatch, 2015)
    Dina M. Asfaha, Tunde Osazua
    Eritrea Versus AFRICOM: Defending Sovereignty in the Face of Imperialist Aggression
    01 Dec 2021
    The rapid expansion of AFRICOM on the African continent should be a cause for concern as African nations are quickly surrendering their sovereignty to the US.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us