On January 30, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring federal departments to report to the White House within 60 days on actions available “to combat anti-Semitism.” The order directed the attorney general to “employ appropriate civil-rights enforcement authorities, such as 18 U.S.C. 241,” a law prohibiting conspiracies to deprive individuals’ civil rights, for this purpose.
Department of Justice officials interested in using this authority should take note of two lawsuits filed by the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (HLLI) against anti-Israel activists allegedly involved in illegal highway blockades. These cases target a network of pro-Hamas activists for their alleged involvement in coordinated activities forbidden by Section 241.
After Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, anti-Israel protesters repeatedly shut down freeways and other key infrastructure across the United States. A month later, demonstrators snarled traffic on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, causing, among other problems, delayed organ-transplant surgeries. In January 2024, protesters shut down I-5 in Seattle for about five hours. And this January, social media accounts affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace, Democratic Socialists of America’s New York chapter, and the Palestinian Youth Movement claimed credit for simultaneous shutdowns of the Holland Tunnel and the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges in New York City.
Enter HLLI’s plaintiffs. Christopher Manhart missed a flight and subsequent business engagements after at least 40 activists swarmed an I-190 off-ramp into Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Daniel Faoro was trapped in his car for over an hour in Arlington, Virginia, while protesters blocked bridges into Washington, D.C. during rush hour. The demonstrators coordinated for maximum disruption, targeting key infrastructure during peak travel times.
Swift prosecution could have deterred these freeway vigilantes, but local prosecutors initially took a light touch. HLLI has filed a first-of-its-kind civil lawsuit against the protesters on Manhart’s behalf last September and advanced a similar case for Faoro in January. HLLI has identified scores of alleged demonstrators and articulated the case against them, helping Faoro and Manhart seek compensation for false imprisonment and other wrongful behavior.
These lawsuits are based on a fundamental civil right, guaranteed by the Constitution and common law: freedom of movement. The pro-Hamas blockaders conspired to impede this right. Such activity is explicitly prohibited by Section 241, which the Supreme Court affirmed in United States v. Guest, a case involving interference with individuals’ right of free interstate passage on highway facilities.
Federal prosecutors, moreover, can use the law to curb anti-Semitic lawlessness and restore law and order in American life. Every alleged incident described in this article falls within the seven-year statute of limitations for federal civil rights charges. As HLLI’s complaints make clear, these protests constitute unlawful conspiracies against travelers’ civil rights. The legal filings meticulously identify the alleged protesters, as well as the network of nonprofits that aided and abetted their conspiracies. Federal prosecutors, in other words, have much of the work done for them.
Such lawsuits are already underway at the local level. Last July, City Journal covered Chicago’s decision to charge the Manhart defendants in the lead-up to the Democratic National Committee’s conference after months of non-enforcement. In August, San Francisco’s district attorney followed suit bringing felony conspiracy charges against 26 Golden Gate demonstrators just one week before the DNC.
The DOJ should still consider pressing charges, pursuant to Trump’s executive order. The shutdowns may have ended, but the people and organizations responsible for them have continued to target Jews across the United States. Manhart defendant Jinan Chehade, for example, has been a fixture in Chicago’s anti-Israel demonstrations since October 8, 2023. Last month, she allegedly participated in a protest that shut down multiple streets around the city’s Anshe Emet Synagogue during an event with former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant.
The court filings in Faoro and Manhart suggest significant overlap between the activists who spearheaded campus occupations, those who led freeway occupations, and those who congregated in the middle of the night outside Jewish politicians’ homes. If Attorney General Pam Bondi wants to hold the country’s most notorious anti-Semites accountable, she should take a close look at HLLI’s docket.
Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images