Center for Protest Law and Litigation Files Amicus Brief in Support of Appellant Jessica Reznicek

The Center for Protest Law and Litigation joined the Climate Defense Project, Honor the Earth, the Climate Disobedience Center, and CodePink as Amici Curiae in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that the District Court violated Ms. Reznicek’s First Amendment rights by imposing the terrorism enhancement. The brief was submitted November 10, 2021.

Read the amicus brief here.

By imposing the terrorism enhancement, the District Court erred, as a matter of law and discretion, in its consideration of the Government’s submissions in support of the terrorism enhancement. Ms. Reznicek’s statements after the fact expressed her protected First Amendment activities of free speech or were expressions of abstracted political ideas and criticisms of the government, not evidence of an intent to coerce or retaliate against the government. Since they were protected under the First Amendment and not clearly linked to the activities for which she pled guilty, the statements may not be used to attach the terrorism enhancement or otherwise increase her sentence.

Ms. Reznicek issued a public statement in July 2017 clearly confirming that the actions to which she pled guilty were not intended to influence or retaliate against government conduct but were intended, quite literally and physically, to disable and halt the operation of the pipeline, as their factual basis and context would suggest. To apply the terrorism enhancement here is to curtail and criminalize the core constitutional rights of freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Reznicek’s evident purpose was to target a private corporation, specifically the physicality of the pipeline. Her after-the-fact references to the government in her public statement do not transform the offense into one contemplated by the terrorism enhancement and, thus, were improperly relied upon by the District Court.