No More Anti-Protest Laws
By Laura Finley
The right to peaceful assembly is enshrined in the Bill of Rights because it is critically important. Indeed, research has shown that peaceful protests and nonviolent tactics are the most effective tools in making social change, even including overthrowing dictators.
To date, 43 states have considered and 26 have enacted some type of anti-protest law. Such laws are often clearly targeted and certain kinds of protest, such as those that were enacted in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin restricting or prohibiting protest around critical infrastructure, including pipelines.