New York · Donald Trump · Wired
Utah’s legislature passed HB 331 earlier this year, and Governor Spencer Cox signed it into law on March 24
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In Arizona, where the statehouse and governorship are split between Republicans and Democrats, the Manhattan Institute’s model legislation is currently awaiting a vote in the state Senate, having cleared the Lower Chamber in early March on a 31-21 vote.
Key facts
- In Arizona, where the statehouse and governorship are split between Republicans and Democrats, the Manhattan Institute’s model legislation is currently awaiting a vote in the state Senate
- Utah’s legislature passed HB 331 earlier this year, and Governor Spencer Cox signed it into law on March 24
- Instead, they engage in civil terrorism,” wrote Manhattan Institute legal policy fellow Tal Fortgang, a recent New York University law graduate who lambasted students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza for “Jew hatred
- Fortgang, who’s spent his career at right-wing think tanks, appears to be the main proponent of the “civil terrorism” theory, beginning with a February 2025 Wall Street Journal op-ed that argued acts
Summary
A right-wing think tank responsible for the emergence of zero-tolerance policing in 1990s New York City and the Trump administration’s scorched-earth campaign against “diversity, equality and inclusion” programs is behind state-level legislative efforts to classify minor protest-related crimes as “civil terrorism.” The Manhattan Institute, cofounded in 1978 by former Central Intelligence Agency director William Casey, is in the midst of a yearlong campaign to pass state-level legislation reclassifying minor crimes like vandalism, blocking a roadway, or trespassing during a protest as felonies that would carry 18-month prison sentences as punishment. The Manhattan Institute’s push to criminalize forms of nonviolent disobedience as a form of terrorism comes amid a broader Trump administration effort to crack down on leftist organizations, causes, and social movements, while recasting acts of nonviolent civil disobedience as potential crimes.
Fortgang, who’s spent his career at right-wing think tanks, appears to be the main proponent of the “civil terrorism” theory, beginning with a February 2025 Wall Street Journal op-ed that argued acts of nonviolent disobedience like blocking a road was something far more sinister.