Amid Charlie Kirk Assassination, Voter Intimidation Case Underscores The Left’s Violent Attempts To Silence Conservatives
M.D. Kittle
“If the targets had been Democrats, there’d be arrests by now. This double standard is unacceptable,” PILF’s J. Christian Adams said.
Charlie Kirk fiercely fought for unfettered free speech. The conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA was a leading voice of his generation because he was an indefatigable defender of the First Amendment. Kirk used words as weapons, and he used them well. He believed ideas, particularly foundational ideas, could and should be defended on the battlefield of vigorous debate.
The left has spent a lot of time and money trying to silence Charlie Kirk and the untold numbers of college students he inspired to stand up and speak out. On Wednesday, an assassin’s bullet cut short the life of Kirk as he, fittingly, greeted students on a Utah college campus and expressed his opinions during the first stop of “The American Comeback Tour.” He was 31.
Conservative speech has been under constant assault in the 21st century, especially so in the Trump era. Democrats and their allies in the deep state have stopped at nothing to stop President Donald Trump — from unconstitutionally attempting to keep the Republican off the ballot to indicting him and prosecuting him on trumped-up charges.
And last summer, would-be assassins tried to silence Trump for good. At a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, a shooter came within a fraction of an inch of ending the president’s life. The killer fatally shot a Trump supporter and seriously injured two others at the rally before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
The left’s silencing treatment has hit average Americans, too. Backers of the MAGA movement have been targeted for daring to speak out in support of Trump, as a lawsuit heading to oral arguments next week underscores.
Intimidation, Threats, and Coercion
The federal case is Butwin Jr. and Schmidt v. John Doe 1 and John Doe 2. Oral arguments are scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the U.S. District Court EDPA in Philadelphia. Two Pennsylvania Trump voters are seeking an injunction against individuals they allege anonymously threatened them for putting up pro-Trump signs in their yards in advance of last year’s presidential election.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue the threats amount to voter intimidation under the Voting Rights Act and the the Ku Klux Klan Act.
“Unless enjoined by this Court, Defendants, and those acting in concert with them, will continue to violate Section 11(b) of the VRA, by continuing to attempt to intimidate, threaten, and/or coerce voters and potential voters both in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States,” the complaint alleges.
The problem is, the identities of the menacers remain unknown, in no small part thanks to the failure of local police and the U.S. Postal Service to investigate or communicate their findings, according to the court filings. So the two plaintiffs, represented by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), are asking the court to allow third-party discovery to learn from authorities what they know.
“Trump supporters in Pennsylvania were threatened — and state officials made no arrests,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams in a press release. “If the targets had been Democrats, there’d be arrests by now. This double standard is unacceptable.”
The threats are particularly menacing, according to the complaint.