Case 1:20-cv-01469-DLF Document 100-1 Filed 11/24/20 Page 1 of 31 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BLACK LIVES MATTER D.C., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Case No. 1:20-cv-01469-DLF DONALD J. TRUMP, et al., Defendants. CONCERNED LEGAL ACADEMICS AND HISTORIANS’ BRIEF AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO DISMISS Case 1:20-cv-01469-DLF Document 100-1 Filed 11/24/20 Page 2 of 31 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .......................................................................................................... ii STATEMENT PURSUANT TO LOCAL RULE 7(o)(5) ...............................................................v INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE .....................................................................................................1 SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ..............................................................................................1 ARGUMENT ...................................................................................................................................2 I. DEFENDANTS’ ALLEGED ACTIONS IN LAFAYETTE SQUARE MUST BE UNDERSTOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF A LONG CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY .............2 A. The Aftermath of the Civil War ...............................................................................3 B. Continued State-Sanctioned Violence Against Black People Led to Passage of the Reconstruction Amendments and Enforcement Acts in 1870–1871 .............4 1. Memphis Massacre of 1866 .........................................................................6 2. New Orleans Massacre of 1866 ...................................................................9 C. Congress Enacts Legislation Aimed at Strengthening Enforcement of the Reconstruction Amendments, including Sections 1985(3) and 1986 ....................12 II. CONGRESS DESIGNED AND INTENDED SECTIONS 1985(3) AND 1986 TO ENCOMPASS PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS ...........................................................................14 A. Plaintiffs’ Claims Are Directly Within the Scope and Purpose of Sections 1985(3) and 1986 ...................................................................................................15 1. The history of the 1871 Civil Rights Act supports a finding of a “conspiracy” in this case under Sections 1985(3) and 1986 ......................15 2. The history of the 1871 Civil Rights Act supports a finding of “racial animus” in this case under Sections 1985(3) and 1986 .............................18 3. Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights are protected by Sections 1985(3) and 1986 .....................................................................................................20 B. Sovereign Immunity Does Not Apply in This Case and Injunctive Relief Is Available Under Sections 1985(3) and 1986 .........................................................20 1. Section 1985(3) applies to claims against federal officials and the federal government ....................................................................................20 2. Section 1985(3) claims against federal officials who violate the Constitution do not trigger sovereign immunity ........................................21 3. Sovereign immunity does not otherwise foreclose injunctive relief ..........22 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................24 i Case 1:20-cv-01469-DLF Document 100-1 Filed 11/24/20 Page 3 of 31 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases Page(s) Affiliated Prof’l Home Health Care Agency v. Shalala, 164 F.3d 282 (5th Cir. 1999) .................................................................................................... 22 Clark v. Library of Congress, 750 F.2d 89 (D.C. Cir. 1984) ................................................................................................... 22 Collins v. Hardyman, 341 U.S. 651 (1951) ............................................................................................... 14, 17, 18, 20 Davis v. U.S. Department of Justice, 204 F.3d 723 (7th Cir. 2000) .................................................................................................... 22 District of Columbia v. Carter, 409 U.S. 418 (1973) ................................................................................................................... 5 Dugan v. Rank, 372 U.S. 609 (1963) ........................................................................................................... 21, 22 Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908) ................................................................................................................. 21 Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471 (1994) ................................................................................................................. 21 Gray Moving & Storage, Inc. v. Fichback, 516 F. Supp. 1165 (D. Colo. 1981) .......................................................................................... 23 Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88 (1971) ........................................................................................... 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 Hobson v. Wilson, 737 F.2d 1 (D.C. Cir. 1984) ..................................................................................................... 21 Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159 (1985) .................................................................................................................. 23 Kush v. Rutledge, 460 U.S. 719 (1983) ................................................................................................................. 13 La Union del Pueblo Entero v. Ross, 353 F. Supp. 3d 381 (D. Md. 2018) ......................................................................................... 21 ii Case 1:20-cv-01469-DLF Document 100-1 Filed 11/24/20 Page 4 of 31 Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Commerce Corp., 337 U.S. 682 (1949) ..................................................................................................... 21, 22, 23 Life Science Church v. Internal Revenue Serv., 525 F. Supp. 399 (N.D. Cal. 1981) .......................................................................................... 22 Philadelphia Co. v. Stimson, 223 U.S. 605 (1912) ................................................................................................................. 23 Pollack v. Hogan, 703 F.3d 117 (D.C. Cir. 2012) ........................................................................................... 21, 22 Sea-Land Serv., Inc. v. Alaska R.R., 659 F.2d 243 (D.C. Cir. 1981) ................................................................................................. 23 Swan v. Clinton, 100 F.3d 973 (D.C. Cir. 1996) ................................................................................................. 21 United Bhd. of Carpenters & Joiners of Am., Local 610, AFL-CIO v. Scott, 463 U.S. 825 (1983) ............................................................................................... 13, 14, 18, 20 United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629 (1883) ........................................................................................................... 14, 17 Constitutional Provisions N.C. Const. § II (1776) .................................................................................................................. 6 U.S. Const. amend. I .................................................................................................................... 24 Statutory Authorities 5 U.S.C. § 702 ............................................................................................................................... 23 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) ............................................................................................................... passim 42 U.S.C. § 1986 .................................................................................................................... passim Civil Rights Act, ch. 31, § 1 (1866) ................................................................................................ 4 Additional Authorities Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019) ....................................................................................... 16 Cong. Globe, 42d Cong., 1st Sess. (1871) ............................................................................. passim Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution 1863–1877 (1988) ..................... 12 iii Case 1:20-cv-01469-DLF Document 100-1 Filed 11/24/20 Page 5 of 31 Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., S. Rep. No. 41 .......................................................................... 5, 12 Maj. T. W. Gilbreth, Report of an investigation of the cause, origin, and results of the late riots in the city of Memphis, Freedman's Bureau Online (May 22, 1866), http://freedmensbureau.com/tennessee/outrages/memphisriot.htm .................................... 6, 7, 8 Ron Chernow, Grant (2017) ......................................................................................................... 10 Rich Condon, “An Absolute Massacre” – The New Orleans Slaughter of July 30, 1866, Nat’l Park Serv., (July 30, 2020), https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/neworleansmassacre.htm ...................................................... 9 Select Committee on the Memphis Riots, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., H.R. Rep. No. 101 (1866) ...........................................................................................................................................