Civil rights attorneys predict charges against Don Lemon, others will be dismissed, citing flaws in FACE Act
CBSN
The indictment against journalist Don Lemon and eight others will likely be dismissed because it hinges on a charge that is viewed as so constitutionally flawed that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has never attempted to use it to prosecute interference in a house of worship, legal experts say. In:
The indictment against journalist Don Lemon and eight others will likely be dismissed because it hinges on a charge that is viewed as so constitutionally flawed that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has never attempted to use it to prosecute interference in a house of worship, legal experts say.
The Jan. 29 indictment alleges that the defendants' involvement in an anti-ICE protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul violated the FACE Act, which prohibits people from intimidating or interfering with people exercising their constitutional freedom to practice religion. It also charges them with a felony of conspiring to interfere with individuals' religious rights.
They are due to be arraigned on Friday.
The problem, some former Civil Rights Division lawyers say, is that the section in the FACE Act criminalizing interference at houses of worship fundamentally misstates the rights people have under the First Amendment.
The First Amendment protects individuals' religious freedom from government interference. But it does not protect them from interference by private individuals, like the protesters and journalists charged in the indictment, they say.
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