‘Make hate expensive’: Legal experts weigh in after DC sues Proud Boys and Oath Keepers

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine was praised on Tuesday after filing a federal lawsuit against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

"The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., cites the modern version of an 1871 law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was enacted after the Civil War to safeguard government officials carrying out their duties and protect civil rights. Two similar suits have been filed already this year related to Jan. 6 — one by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, and another by a number of police officers who fought the rioters that day," The Washington Postreports.

Members of both groups are facing federal conspiracy charges for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"A similar legal tactic led to a $26 million verdict last month against more than a dozen of the nation’s most influential white supremacists and hate groups for their role in the deadly 2017 United the Right rally in Charlottesville. That trial evidence drew heavily on the defendants’ text messages, social media posts and videos to reconstruct how they conspired in advance of the violence," the newspaper noted. "In the 1980s, a lawsuit drove an Alabama-based faction of the Klan into bankruptcy, forcing members to turn over their local headquarters to the family of a murdered Black man."

Attorney Robbie Kaplan, who successfully sued the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally organizer, said she had mixed feelings on the lawsuit.

"So proud that the Charlottesville verdict obtained by [Karen Dunn] and I and our teams appears to have sparked a revival of the KKK Act of 1871. But also deeply upsetting that a law passed after the Civil War still so relevant today," she explained.

Some legal experts praised the lawsuit.

"This is welcome news," MSNBC legal analyst Maya Wiley posted to Twitter. "Like the Charlottesville trial, make hate too expensive!"

Fordham Law Prof. Jed Shugerman noted the message being sent by the lawsuit.

"The DC AG is filing a civil action against Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other groups for conspiracy to violate civil rights and 'terrorizing' the Capitol, using the KKK Act of 1870. I love this explicit framing of January 6th with 9/11 terrorism and the history of KKK terror," he wrote.

Richard Signorelli, a former federal prosecutor, focused on how expensive it will be for the 31 individuals named in the lawsuit.

"This will force all of them to defend the case, with or without paid counsel," he explained. "When they lose, either by default or otherwise, the judgment will not be dischargeable in any personal bankruptcy filing. Their income/assets would be subject to attachment/garnishment for yrs to come."

Attorney Ryan Goodman pointed out the lawsuit included a "notable reference" to Roger Stone.

Watch: