Professor Brownstein Comments on Assembly Bill for Sacramento Bee

Professor Alan Brownstein commented for the Sacramento Bee on a California lawmaker's proposal to punish the practice of displaying a hangman's noose as an act of intimidation.   The legislation, Assembly Bill 412 introduced by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, is premised on the history of lynch-mob killings of African Americans and rests on the notion that nooses remain a powerful and intimidating symbol in the hands of white supremacists.  Carter's bill would impose potential penalties of a one-year jail sentence and $5,000 fine for hanging a noose on a victim's property or at a school, park, or workplace as an act of intimidation.

Professor Brownstein commented for the Bee on the need for jurors to weigh intent, stating that "If you're doing something that looks like, walks like, quacks like a threat, a jury is going to say that's a threat."

Professor Brownstein, a nationally recognized Constitutional Law scholar, teaches Constitutional Law, Law and Religion, and Torts at UC Davis School of Law, where he holds the Boochever and Bird Endowed Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality.