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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