{"id":26424,"date":"2019-10-24T12:59:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T16:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/civil-liberties\/auto-draft"},"modified":"2023-02-27T17:15:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T22:15:27","slug":"south-dakota-governor-caves-on-attempted-efforts-to-silence-pipeline-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/free-speech\/south-dakota-governor-caves-on-attempted-efforts-to-silence-pipeline-protesters","title":{"rendered":"South Dakota Governor Caves on Attempted Efforts to Silence Pipeline Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"metadata":[],"class_list":["post-26424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":{"header_layout":"standard","header_image":26427,"mobile_header_image":null,"description":"The state's quick retreat should serve as a lesson for other legislatures: if you criminalize protest, we will sue.","authors":[1903],"components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"<p class=\"\">South Dakota\u2019s governor and attorney general today backed down from their unconstitutional attempts to silence pipeline protestors. In response to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/dakota-rural-action-v-noem\">a lawsuit<\/a> we filed alongside the ACLU of South Dakota and the Robins Kaplan law firm, the state has agreed to never enforce the unconstitutional provisions of several state laws that threatened activists who encourage or organize protests, particularly protests of the Keystone XL pipeline, with fines and criminal penalties of up to 25 years in prison.<\/p><p class=\"\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/dakota-rural-action-v-noem-stipulated-settlement-agreement\">settlement agreement<\/a> reached today and now headed to the court for approval is an important victory for the right to protest. It comes soon after a federal court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/legal-document\/dakota-rural-action-v-noem-order-granting-motion-preliminary-injunction\">temporarily blocked enforcement<\/a> of the pieces of the laws that infringed on First Amendment protected speech, and makes the court\u2019s temporary block a permanent one.<\/p><p class=\"\">The laws include the \u201cRiot Boosting\u201d Act, which gave the state the authority to sue individuals and organizations for \u201criot boosting,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/blog\/free-speech\/rights-protesters\/south-dakota-legislature-has-invented-new-legal-term-target\">a novel and confusing term<\/a>. The court warned against the laws\u2019 broad reach, noting that the laws could have prohibited:<\/p><ul class=\"\"><li>Sending a supporting email or a letter to the editor in support of a protest <\/li><li>Giving a cup of coffee or thumbs up or $10 to protesters<\/li><li>Holding up a sign in protest on a street corner<\/li><li>Asking someone to protest<\/li><\/ul><p class=\"\">Under the First Amendment, that is impermissible. <\/p><p class=\"\">The court rightly recognized the stakes of this case. And it put these anti-protest efforts in perspective, asking \u201cif these riot boosting statutes were applied to the protests that took place in Birmingham, Alabama, what might be the result?\u201d The answer: \u201cDr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference could have been liable under an identical riot boosting law[.]\u201d <\/p><p class=\"\">Indeed, South Dakota\u2019s unconstitutional anti-protest efforts echoed the suppression of past social movements. From the start, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem called on \u201cshut[ting] down\u201d \u201cout-of-state people\u201d who come into South Dakota to \u201cslow and stop construction\u201d of the pipeline. Her harmful calls were reminiscent of government attempts throughout our history to delegitimize and minimize significant social movements as the work of \u201coutside agitators,\u201d including <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2017\/12\/why-is-doug-jones-using-outside-agitator-as-an-insult.html\">Reverend Martin Luther King Jr<\/a>. <\/p><p class=\"\">South Dakota\u2019s quick and costly retreat (they\u2019ll have to compensate plaintiffs for attorney\u2019s fees under the settlement agreement) should serve as a lesson for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/blog\/free-speech\/rights-protesters\/where-protests-flourish-anti-protest-bills-follow\">other legislatures considering similar efforts<\/a> to silence dissent.<\/p><p class=\"\">In the last few years, we have witnessed a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.icnl.org\/usprotestlawtracker\/?location=&amp;status=&amp;issue=6&amp;date=&amp;type=legislative\">legislative trend<\/a> of states seeking to criminalize protest, deter political participation, and curtail freedom of association. These bills appear to be a direct reaction from politicians and corporations to some of the most effective tactics of those speaking out today, including water protectors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/blog\/free-speech\/rights-protesters\/assault-environmental-protest\">challenging pipeline construction<\/a>, Black Lives Matter, and those calling for boycotts of Israel. These legislative moves are aimed at suppressing dissent and undercutting marginalized and over-policed groups voicing concerns that disrupt current power dynamics. <\/p><p class=\"\">But the First Amendment guarantees people the right to voice their opposition. This includes our clients \u2014 four organizations (the Sierra Club, NDN Collective, Dakota Rural Action, and the Indigenous Environmental Network) and two individuals (Nick Tilsen with NDN Collective and Dallas Goldtooth with Indigenous Environmental Network) \u2014 all of whom are protesting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and encouraging others to do the same. <\/p><p class=\"\">Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline may be imminent. Pre-construction activities <a href=\"https:\/\/billingsgazette.com\/news\/state-and-regional\/flurry-of-keystone-xl-pre-construction-activity-resumes\/article_2101a963-a28d-5956-9a22-695ad4cf643b.html\">resumed this month<\/a>, and a hearing on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2019\/10\/04\/2019-21702\/notice-of-availability-of-the-draft-supplemental-environmental-impact-statement-for-the-proposed\">new Draft Environmental Impact Statement<\/a> for the pipeline, which will serve as the basis for approval of any future permits, is coming up next Monday. <\/p><p class=\"\">With the laws we challenged proclaimed unenforceable, protesters and protectors no longer have to worry about incarceration or fines as they protest against the construction. That is, at a minimum, how democracy should work.<\/p>"}}],"featured_cases_section":{"enable_featured_cases":false,"title":"Featured Cases","description":"","featured_cases":null},"action":148399,"issues":[46336,46479,46673,46699,46707],"related_content_cases":null,"related_content_documents":null,"related_content_publications":null,"related_affiliates":null,"content_layout":"","theme":false,"drupal_nid":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The state&#039;s quick retreat should serve as a lesson for other legislatures: if you criminalize protest, we will sue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Dakota Governor Caves on Attempted Efforts to Silence Pipeline Protesters | ACLU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The state&#039;s quick retreat should serve as a lesson for other legislatures: if you criminalize protest, we will sue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/free-speech\/south-dakota-governor-caves-on-attempted-efforts-to-silence-pipeline-protesters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-24T16:59:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-27T22:15:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2019\/10\/web19-water-protectors-1a-blog-socialshare-1200x628.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vera Eidelman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2019\/10\/web19-water-protectors-1a-blog-socialshare-1200x628.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/free-speech\/south-dakota-governor-caves-on-attempted-efforts-to-silence-pipeline-protesters\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/free-speech\/south-dakota-governor-caves-on-attempted-efforts-to-silence-pipeline-protesters\",\"name\":\"South Dakota Governor Caves on Attempted Efforts to Silence Pipeline Protesters | ACLU\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-24T16:59:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-27T22:15:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"The state's quick retreat should serve as a lesson for other legislatures: if you criminalize protest, we will sue.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/free-speech\/south-dakota-governor-caves-on-attempted-efforts-to-silence-pipeline-protesters\"]}],\"author\":{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#\/schema\/person\/vera-eidelman\",\"name\":\"Vera Eidelman\",\"jobTitle\":\"Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/bio\/vera-eidelman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#\/schema\/person\/photo\/vera-eidelman\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2020\/09\/web19-vera-eidelman-1000x970.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2020\/09\/web19-vera-eidelman-1000x970.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Vera Eidelman\"}}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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