a block buster thing that is going to be unfolding in a very high profile way in virginia this week into next and beyond just as virginia voters are going to the polls in this super important tight election. it is now just over four years since a rotten assortment, if you ll forgive me, of neo-nazis and white supremacists and anti-semites convened in charlottesville, virginia to basically terrorize that town and the university of virginia campus. this was the, you know, jews will not replace us torch lit march. the guys with rifles and pistol, and clubs, and chemical spray and swastika flags marching through charlottesville, surrounding the only synagogue in charlottesville, assaulting counter protesters, ultimately one of their number, an avowed neo-nazi rammed his car at high
tolerate bigotry in the marketplace of ideas because of the first amendment, but when that bigotry turns into conspiratorial violence, there is redress. well, the redress that is being sought here is by nine plaintiffs who were harmed by what happened in charlottesville, including a minister who was assaulted by the neo-nazis, four people who were injured in the car attack that killed heather heyer. a jewish woman hounded and stocked by these anti-semitic thugs. their case is spearheaded by a group called integrity first for america, and they brought this suit on behalf of these nine bailiffs against a big broad swat of defendants, 14 individuals, and 10 groups, all far right white nationalist, white supremacist, neo-nazi extremist groups and individuals all involved in the planning and executing of the charlottesville event. this is the trial that is just starting right now in charlottesville, just a week ahead of virginia choosing its
next governor. the case in charlottesville went to jury selection starting today. the trial is expected to run for the next four weeks or so. but it s already proving to be sort of a nightmare for the planners of what happened in charlottesville. here, for example, is the headline on this case today, on this case recently at usa today, lawsuit over charlottesville unite the right rally has crippled white supremacist groups and leaders. quote a federal lawsuit against the organizers of the deadly 2017 unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia, has rattled hate groups and white supremacist leaders, dismantling some of america s well known white supremacist groups, and crippled one leader of the alt-right, the white supremacist and nationalist movement that came to prominence under president donald trump. richard spencer one of the defendants in the lawsuit said quote it s very stressful and very costly. spencer acknowledged that the
charlottesville case incidentally, that prominent neo-nazi web site took up the case, so to speak, and they posted her personal information online, and they encouraged the monsters who frequent that neo-nazi web site that they should step up the attacks on her, keep it going and worse. what would you do in that circumstance, having every avowed neo-nazi on the internet coming for you after those physical threats already. she responded by going on offense. she brought a case led by the is national lawyers committee for civil rights under law. her case was helmed by an able lawyer names kristen clark who we had on the show to talk about at the time. kristen clark you may remember, you may recognize is now head of the civil rights division at the u.s. department of justice, appointed by president biden, she now served under attorney general merrick garland.
speed to a group of protesters, killing one of them, heather higher, injuring 19 people. the guy who drove into the crowd is facing two life sentences without the possibility of parole and 419 years on top of that for good measure. but just days after the debacle in charlottesville, a very interesting legal strategy started to come together to try to pursue some accountability, not just for that murderer, now convicted murderer, but for the knew owe nazi, and white supremacist groups who didn t just plan to come to charlottesville to speak their minds, they planned the violence there. we know that in part because of leaked screen shots of these guys planning charlottesville online, interactions online, promising them and hyping that it would be violent in