NSC 131 Activist Group’s Free Speech Rights Upheld by Supreme Court
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit against the right-wing activist group, National Socialist Club 131 (NSC 131), over a banner displayed on a highway overpass that read “Keep New England White.”
The banner which led to the Civil Rights Act case (New Hampshire Supreme Court)
In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that the legal action brought by the Attorney-General’s Office, accusing the group of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act, was too broad and infringed upon the activists’ right to free speech.
Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald wrote in the decision, “The overbreadth of the State’s construction of the Act creates an unacceptable risk of a chill on speech protected by Part I, Article 22 of our State Constitution,” as reported by the New Hampshire Bulletin.
The group, which has been involved in several protests against White replacement and radical gender ideology in the New England region, had hung the banner from a Portsmouth overpass in July 2022. They removed it after being informed by police that they needed a permit.
Despite this, state prosecutors charged two of the group’s leaders, Christopher R. Hood Jr and Leo Anthony Cullinan, with violating the Civil Rights Act. The charges were dismissed by Rockingham County Superior Court Judge David W. Ruoff in June 2023, who stated that the Attorney-General’s Office’s interpretation of the act was unconstitutionally broad. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court, with legal support provided to the group by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.
Justice MacDonald further clarified the requirements for stating a claim for violation of the Act, emphasizing that the State must establish that the actor knowingly trespasses on property without license or privilege, and that the trespass was motivated by factors such as race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability.
Mr. Hood expressed gratitude for the support received while the group dealt with what he termed “political lawfare.” He mentioned that two other cases are still pending in Massachusetts and New Hampshire over protests outside migrant hotels, drag queen story hours, and Antifa events. To help fight these lawsuits, which he called “a frivolous and poorly executed attempt to drag us into litigation and distract us from our purpose as the tip of the spear in the struggle for New Englanders’ sovereignty and security,” Mr. Hood has set up a GiveSendGo fundraising page.
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