New Hampshire’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of a neo-Nazi group on Friday after a civil prosecution against the group was ruled ‘unconstitutional.’
Prosecutors from the state’s attorney general’s office claimed the group, known as Nationalist Social Club-131, had trespassed when it displayed a ‘Keep New England White’ banner without a permit from an overpass in 2022.
It was said the state’s interpretation of the law imposes government sanctions on those who unintentionally trespass on public property, including those who do so motivated by characteristics stated in the law.
Those characteristics include race, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity or disability.
The state’s Supreme Court, however, ruled in agreement with a lower court judge who said in 2023 that the state prosecutors’ interpretation of the law was unconstitutionally overboard.
‘Content-based restrictions must be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest,’ the justices wrote, dismissing the charges on the grounds of free speech.
‘Such a broad sweep discourages the expression of certain messages for fear of government sanctions under the Act based on the content of the messages expressed,’ the court wrote.
The court also said it was ‘not persuaded’ that the complaints’ ‘sufficiently allege’ the group members knowingly trespassed.
NSC-131’s founder, Christopher R. Hood Jr and another group member who has since died, Leo Anthony Cullinan, were accused of racially motivated illegal trespassing when about ten members hung the banner over the bypass.
The complaint against them asked for the judge to enter an order prohibiting the group and its members from engaging in threatening force or violence and discriminatory behavior for three years.
Rockingham County Superior Court Judge David W. Ruoff, however, warned that the same prosecutorial tactics could be used against others who would wish to talk about race in public without engaging in violence, the Boston Globe reported.
‘For example, a person protesting on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement would face the very real threat of prosecution for demonstrating on public property,’ Ruoff wrote in 2023.
‘On that basis, many such protestors would suppress those views and refrain from expressing them on public property based on their reasonable perception that the government or its actors do not share those views.’
The groups’ defense attorney William E. Gens said the banner contained ‘certainly an edgy message,’ but argued it was comparable to a slogan like ‘Keep Harlem Black.’
Gens then argued the government should not be prosecuting people for the expression of such ideas.
‘Short of things that are inciting riots or creating a public hazard… it’s better to have these statements out there,’ Gens argued.
Gens said he was ‘very pleased with the decision, and it was based on grounds that we raised all along.’
The attorney general’s office said it was disappointed by the court’s decision, but respects it, spokesperson Michael Garrity said in a statement.
Just last year, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire said NSC-131’s message was ‘hateful and repugnant,’ but such a case would ‘chip away at the free speech rights of all of us’ should the court rule against the group.
The court ruling, however, has not put an end to the legal battles facing the group.
In 2023, the attorney general’s office filed a second case against NSC-131, Hood and 19 other unnamed defendants for engaging in intimidation tactics outside of a café, where a drag queen story-hour event was being hosted, in Concord.
Drag queen Juicy Garland posted a video on X in June 2023 of the incident, which showed a masked group stood outside performing Nazi salutes, knocking on the glass windows and shouting, with families and children gathered inside.
The attorney general’s office alleges that the group were trying to get the venue to cancel the event by intimidating and harassing those attending, based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
That complaint is still being pursued by the attorney general’s office.
NSC-131 are identified as a neo-Nazi group based in New England which was founded in 2019. The ‘131’ part of its name refers to the alphanumeric code for ACA, Anti-Communist Action and Anti-Capitalist Action.
According to the Anti-Defamation Leage, the group self-identify as a ‘pro-white, street-orientated fraternity dedicated to raising AUTHENTIC resistance to the enemies of our people in the New England area.’
The group said in 2022, according to the ADL, that its ‘enemies work tirelessly’ to prevent white men from ‘attaining the greatest sense of purpose and belonging a man could ever achieve.’
‘What you see here are brothers united in struggle, engaging in a metapolitical war against those who wish to see our people dead, and the stakes have never been so high,’ they said.
‘We cannot offer you an easy life, but we can promise you an eternity of brotherhood, fulfillment, and legacy that comes from engaging in this war for survival at the highest degree that is sustainably possible.’
The group said that action against its ‘enemies’ takes place in the form of networking, training, activism, outreach, and ‘above all, ACTION.’
According to the ADL, the group typically distribute propaganda, engage in public demonstrations, organize private gatherings for networking, firearms or fitness training as well as efforts to ‘troll’ or harass its ‘enemies.’