Protest Rights & Use of Force Under Color of Law (18 U.S.C. § 242)
Current understanding
To be populated as evidence accumulates.
Evidence log
- 2025-09-15 — George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2025: cross-connection with george-floyd-justice-in-policing-act: The Act would amend 18 U.S.C. § 242’s intent standard, directly affecting the color-of-law prosecutions central to protest use-of-force cases. (novelty: 2)
- 2025-11-20 — Common-Sense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in DC Act of 2025: cross-connection with clean-dc-act-policing-reform-repeal: Repeal would restore prior DC standards on neck restraints and use of force, affecting the local-law backdrop against which federal § 242 color-of-law prosecutions are evaluated. (novelty: 3)
- 2026-06-08 — Right to Record Act of 2026: cross-connection with right-to-record-act-2026: Recording rights are commonly asserted at protests and interactions with law enforcement; a federal right-to-record statute would interact with color-of-law use-of-force protections. (novelty: 3)
- 2025-07-22 — To amend title 18, United States Code, to include rioting in the definition of racketeering activity.: cross-connection with rico-rioting-racketeering-activity: Both address the legal framework surrounding protests and riots; adding rioting as a RICO predicate could affect prosecutorial treatment of protest-adjacent conduct, intersecting with protest-rights protections. (novelty: 3)
- 2025-05-29 — Protecting Our Protesters Act of 2025: 2025 — Protecting Our Protesters Act of 2025 (HR3651) introduced, proposing to amend 18 U.S.C. § 242 to explicitly classify use of force during protest responses as a civil rights deprivation under color of law and to eliminate the death penalty as a sentencing option when death or aggravating factors result. (novelty: 3)