NOVEMBER 18 • 2021 | 25

refusing to provide or
destroying evidence. The
defendants claim they were
exercising their free speech
rights and that they did
not coordinate and plan
the violence that weekend,
which they attributed mainly
to counter-protesters and
Antifa, as well as inaction
by the Charlottesville police.
Several defendants claimed
that they had little or no
contact among each other,

but cell phone
records and texts
accepted as evi-
dence showed
otherwise.
While a civil
lawsuit does
not require
“proof beyond
a reasonable
doubt,” it does require a
“preponderance of evi-
dence,” according to Steven
Winter, Walter S. Gibbs

Distinguished Professor of
Constitutional Law at Wayne
State University Law School.
Winter says the plaintiffs’
lawyers must show that
the defendants intended to
deprive the plaintiffs of their
Constitutional rights, par-
ticipated in a conspiracy for
that purpose and injured the
plaintiffs.
There is a huge volume
of evidence for the case —
much of it digital — cell

phone call records, texts,
internet posts and videos
from the weeks before as
well as during the weekend
of Unite the Right, in addi-
tion to some comments from
defendants about their satis-
faction with the outcome.
Winter says this evidence
will be evaluated in terms
of context and substance.
Racist and antisemitic com-
ments, whether made at
a rally or online, are not
by themselves necessarily
crimes; the First Amendment
protects free speech. He
anticipates that regardless of
the jury’s verdict, there will
be an appeal — first to the
Court of Appeals and then
potentially to the Supreme
Court.
The trial is expected to
last up to two more weeks.
For additional information,
visit integrityfirstforamerica.
org.

Prof. Deborah Lipstadt described how
white Supremacists and neo-Nazis have
developed code words to avoid having
their online posts removed by social
media filters. Here are several examples:
• HH or 88 may substitute for Heil
Hitler. (H is the 8th letter in the alphabet.)
• Kayak — a boat — may be used
instead of kike.
• The “14 words” refers to the white
supremacist slogan: “We must secure the
existence of white people and a future
for white children.”

Professor
Steven
Winter

Supported through the generosity of The Jewish Fund and the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Family Foundation.




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