The consent decrees permanently prohibit these rally organizers and militias, alt-right organizations, and their leaders from participating in Charlottesville protests and rallies as unauthorized organized armed groups using force or projecting the ability to do so. The case was brought on behalf of the City of Charlottesville and a number of small businesses and homeowners’ associations. A state court opinion accepting the plaintiffs’ legal theories advanced under the state constitution, state anti-paramilitary statutes, and common law established important precedent on which other jurisdictions can rely to prevent violence at public protests and rallies.

Filings

• 7/24/18 – Obtained court orders against 23 defendants preventing the recurrence of private paramilitary activity in Charlottesville
• 7/7/18 – Obtained a ruling allowing Plaintiffs’ amended complaint to proceed to trial on all counts
• 6/7/18 – Filed a motion for preliminary injunction to prevent the return of unlawful paramilitaries to Virginia
• 5/15/18 – Filed a brief in response to dispositive motions in our suit to prevent the return of unlawful paramilitaries to Virginia
• 1/4/18 – Filed an amended complaint in Charlottesville in suit to prevent the return of unlawful paramilitaries to Virginia
• 10/12/17 – Filed a lawsuit in Charlottesville invoking Virginia’s anti-militia and anti-paramilitary laws to prevent the return of unlawful private paramilitaries to Virginia