Nationalist Movement - Lawsuits

Lawsuits

In 1987 the Movement applied for 501(c)(3) non-profit status. This status was denied due to the organization's use of resources for non-charitable purposes. The Movement filed a lawsuit challenging the decision on constitutional grounds, but was defeated. The Movement was active in protests against Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Atlanta, Georgia in 1989. Its Neighborhood, Home, Family and Country parade and rally in South Boston drew crowds and police. It held a demonstration in Simi Valley, California in 1992, in defense of the police officers accused of beating Rodney King. In 1993, it held a Majority-Rights Freedom Rally at the Colorado State Capitol, in opposition to gay rights.

In 1992, it won in the United States Supreme Court, in Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement, establishing new First Amendment jurisprudence, which lifted bans on its use of public property and mandated police protection for its parades and rallies. It was sued in 1993 by the Texas Human Rights Commission, alleging that it violated the federal housing bill, but it won the case and had prohibitions against free speech stricken from federal housing regulations. It has won over two dozen First Amendment–related cases. It is financed by donations of members and occasional court-awarded damages from opponents. It sees itself as policing the ranks of nationalists, often supporting the prosecution of competing white supremacists, such as Matthew Hale and David Duke.