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The Enforcement Act of 1871 also
known as the Klan Act, was
enacted to combat the violent anti-government vigilantism of the Ku Klux Klan
in the post-Civil War South. The core purpose of the act was to
make it a federal crime to “injure,
oppress, threaten, or intimidate” American citizens in the free exercise
of their constitutional rights, especially when done by a group.
The act was passed
April 20, 1871, during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant. The statute has been subject to only minor
changes since then. In its early
history, under the Grant Administration, this act was used to bring to justice
those who were violating the Civil Rights of newly freed African
Americans.
In February 2021, a
suit was filed alleging violations of the Act pertaining to attempts to reject
certification of the election results during the 2021 United States
Electoral College vote count, as well as alleging conspiracy to incite violence
leading to the 2021 United States Capitol attack.
In 2026, the Klan Act
has been invoked in the case off anti-government vigilantes in the state of
Minnesota who allegedly disrupted a church service in furtherance of a
political agenda. Federal prosecutors allege that the Minnesota
church protest amounted to a conspiracy to interfere with the congregants’
constitutional right to unimpeded practice of their religion—exactly the type
of conduct the statute was designed to criminalize.
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