State legislatures have passed silly and nonsensical laws
before. There have also been jokes about governments attempting to subject
activity which is inherently criminal to non-criminal regulations (sort of like
an airline imposing a “bomb
fee”), as if a criminal organization which has no trouble committing
repeated acts of theft and murder will be deterred by a bureaucratic nonsense.
Well, it seems that, in South Carolina, according to Raw
Story, life is imitating satire. Last year, South Carolina
passed a law (which
is now officially on the books) requiring “subversive organizations” whose
express mission is the violent overthrow of the U.S. government to register with
the Secretary of State. Also, they have to pay a $5 filing fee. After all, if
there’s one thing that violent anti-government groups won’t do, it’s lying to
the government.
I can see it now: an underground, ultra right-wing
organization determined to destroy the federal government assembles in Idaho (for example).
After years of preparation and stockpiling weapons, their plan to storm the
capital is nearly complete. They just need to branch out to every other corner
of the country, and recruit more people to their cause. Then their in-house
counsel comes rushing into the commander’s bunker, or whatever, a printed copy
of this statute in hand and exclaims “this whole thing is off! South Carolina will
require us to register, or we’ll be fined! Pack it in, we’re done.”
Just in case you’re thinking of forming a subversive
organization, the official registration form can be found here,
for your convenience.
I really have to wonder what the person who drafted this
statute was thinking. Clearly, no one could seriously think that a terrorist
organization would bother to follow this law.
Maybe this means that real terrorist groups aren’t the
target. Perhaps this is simply a money-grab, or an attempt to chill the
expression of groups with very extreme views, but which are mostly non-violent.
Under this law, the government could try and make a case that such groups are
“subversive organizations,” and that they failed to register. It’s an easy way
to collect a $25,000 fine.
It’s also probably unconstitutional, if this is the true
intent of the law. At the very least, it would probably be unconstitutional as
applied to groups which aren’t really subversive, especially if it could be
shown that it chilled their constitutionally-protected activities in South
Carolina (such as giving speeches, distributing literature, holding meetings,
etc.). This law could be a very effective way to do this.
Suppose an extreme right wing organization, which believes
that the current federal government is illegitimate, wants to protest somewhere
in South Carolina.
Also suppose that this group, while pining for the fall of the federal
government, does not in any way advocate violence, nor has it taken any
affirmative steps to that end.
They would have to weigh the options of registering as a
“subversive organization” – even though they don’t believe themselves to be
one, which would seriously discredit their message (assuming anyone outside the
organization actually took them seriously), or they could go in, and fail to
register, risking the state declaring them a subversive organization, and
imposing a large fine. This might discourage them from going to South Carolina (or any
other state with similar laws, if this catches on) altogether.
For most people, this is not a big deal. After all, who
wants to listen to the ravings of a bunch of paranoid wingnuts, or neo-Nazis,
or extreme leftists, or any other fringe group? But it is sometimes forgotten
that that the right to free speech, if it means anything, must protect
unpopular views. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that ideas like equal rights
for African-Americans, or women’s suffrage were considered pretty far out
there. It’s entirely possible that groups advocating these positions would have
been punished by laws such as this one, had they existed at the time.
BY: Rusty Shackleford