A hypothetical: Imagine, if you will, 300 African-Americans chartering a flight from Detroit to a civil rights rally in Washington DC, and getting to Dulles airport, but then are deliberately prevented from attending the convention by an organized mass “sick-out” by drivers working for the bus company contracted to take the Detroiters from the airport to the rally’s location. The drivers objected to the goals of the civil rights rally. Because of the size of the event, with hundreds of thousands of people flying in from all over the country needing ground transportation, those drivers likely knew that no other drivers or buses were available. They also probably knew that because of security policies charter passengers (who aren’t typically screened by the TSA) would not be allowed in the terminal to secure alternative means of transport.
That’s exactly what their employer discovered. The bus company was unable to find replacement drivers and those 300 African-Americans spent hours sitting on the on the tarmac, missing the rally entirely, despite having spent considerable time and expense trying to get there. They spent so much time waiting that their trip home was even further delayed because their original air crew could not fly them back because the delay put them over certain FAA regulations. After 11 hours they finally flew home.
Do you think the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division would take an interest in the case? Undoubtedly there would be concerns over possible violations of the public accommodations sections of the Civil Rights Act by those drivers. I’m pretty sure opinionators would opine about shameful echos of “back of the bus” and I bet Rosa Parks and her famous bus ride would get mentioned.
It’s also possible that a little known weapon in the government’s takedown of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s could be brought to bear upon the bus drivers. While much of the civil rights movement was about removing discrimination by government, like Jim Crow laws and poll taxes, the federal government needed a weapon to go against private actors who deprived people of their civil rights.
18 U.S. Code § 241 was that weapon. It makes it a federal felony for private individuals to conspire to deprive others of their constitutional and legal rights. As you can see from the text of the law, some of it was crafted to go after the KKK’s “nightriders”, as it references going “in disguise on the highway” with the intent to prevent or hinder others’ rights. However, it covers a much broader range of behavior.
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
Freedom of speech and religion usually get top billing when people discuss the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The right of Americans to freely assemble is also a bedrock constitutional right as is going to Washington to petition the government.
It seems to me that my hypothetical scenario would be an almost textbook violation of this law. Having spent considerable sums of money to fly to DC and attend the rally only to be prevented to do so by the drivers’ conspiracy, they were certainly injured financially, and they were not just threatened but actively prevented from exercising the above mentioned rights.
The thing is, my story isn’t hypothetical, I just changed a few minor details:
If there’s a positive side to this story, the bus drivers’ actions resulted in more publicity for the rally in support of Israel. Their actions have also been reported to the Department of Justice. I’m not holding my breath, however, waiting for Biden’s DoJ to even investigate. It’s not like they were parents complaining at school board meetings about Young Adult porn in school libraries.
So 18 USC 241 can be used to go after blue cities for gun laws?
Sweet!
Still not sure who was behind this disgraceful prevarication.
This was shameful and I hope those driver's get punished severely for thier un American actions .
-Nate