Charlottesville, Va. — In settlement of a lawsuit filed in October 2017 against them by the City of Charlottesville as well as local businesses and neighborhood associations, the National Socialist Movement and its leader, Jeff Schoep, have agreed not to return to Charlottesville to engage in coordinated armed activity during rallies and protests.

On April 11, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Moore signed a consent decree declaring that the National Socialist Movement and Schoep are “permanently enjoined from returning to Charlottesville, Virginia, as part of a unit of two or more persons acting in concert while armed with a firearm, weapon, shield, or any item whose purpose is to inflict bodily harm, at any demonstration, rally, protest, or march.”

This marks the second such settlement to emerge from the lawsuit. The League of the South and two of its leaders, Michael Tubbs and Spencer Borum, previously reached a similar settlement that was approved by the court on March 14. The consent decrees signed and entered by Judge Moore have the force of court orders. A number of other defendants remain in the litigation.

The suit aims to prevent the types of violence seen at the “Unite the Right” rally held in Charlottesville in August 2017 and, to that end, seeks a court order prohibiting many of the alt-right groups and private militias from returning to the city to engage in unlawful paramilitary activity in violation of Virginia’s Constitution and state statutes.

The plaintiffs are represented by Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and the Charlottesville law firm MichieHamlett.