PerspectiveNew Domestic Terrorism Laws Are Unnecessary for Fighting White Nationalists

Published 3 October 2019

In the past, incidents of white nationalist violence haven’t garnered the attention they deserve from Congress or federal law enforcement. But after the August 2019 El Paso shooting by a young white supremacist, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Randy K. Weber Sr. (R-TX) introduced two separate bills that would create a new crime of domestic terrorism, citing lethal white nationalist crimes as the justification. Faiza Patel writes for the Brennan Center that while it’s reassuring, and long overdue, for members of Congress to take the threat of white nationalist violence seriously, such legislation is both unnecessary and creates serious risks of abuse.

In the past, incidents of white nationalist violence haven’t garnered the attention they deserve from Congress or federal law enforcement. But after the August 2019 El Paso shooting by a young white supremacist, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Randy K. Weber Sr. (R-TX) introduced two separate bills that would create a new crime of domestic terrorism, citing lethal white nationalist crimes as the justification.

Faiza Patel writes for the Brennan Centerthat while it’s reassuring, and long overdue, for members of Congress to take the threat of white nationalist violence seriously, such legislation is both unnecessary and creates serious risks of abuse.

“The FBI already has all the authority it needs to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of white nationalist violence. Congress has enacted 51 federal crimes of terrorism that apply to entirely domestic acts and further prohibited material support toward the commission of these violent crimes, she writes. “The bureau’s array of legal authorities do not end there, however. Congress has also passed five federal hate crime laws that target bias-motivated violence as well as organized crime and conspiracy statutes that are often used to prosecute violent white supremacist groups.”

She adds:

By creating a new crime of domestic terrorism, the proposed bills would give the Justice Department and FBI access to broad additional charges that could be used to target minorities and activists.

Throughout its history, the FBI has used its authorities to investigate and monitor political protesters and civil rights activists. Since 9/11, the FBI has used its counterterrorism authorities to target Muslims, Arabs, and people from the Middle East and Asia, as well as people who dissent from the status quo. In 2005, the FBI named “eco-terrorism,” which hasn’t produced a single fatality in this country, the number one domestic terrorism threat. In August 2017, the FBI concocted a “black identity extremist movement” out of a handful of unrelated acts of violence and warned law enforcement agencies across the country that black activists protesting police violence posed a threat to them. And this year, President Trump tweeted that he was considering designating anti-fascists a terrorist organization.

Schiff’s proposal is so broad that it would empower the attorney general to lay terrorism charges against anyone who committed an assault, damaged property, or threatened such an act if he determined it was intended to intimidate a civilian population or influence government policy. Given the Justice Department’s track record and Trump’s rhetoric, it isn’t at all unreasonable to fear the federal government will use these powers against protesters and political opponents. After all, the Justice Department charged more than 200 anti-Trump protesters with felonies after someone broke some store windows on Inauguration Day in 2017.