About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

25 Ga. L. Rev. 819 (1990-1991)
Klan, Cloth and Constitution: Anti-Mask Laws and the First Amendment

handle is hein.journals/geolr25 and id is 835 raw text is: NOTES KLAN, CLOTH AND CONSTITUTION: ANTI-MASK LAWS AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT On February 28, 1990, Shade Miller, Jr., a member of the Invisi- ble Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, emerged from his pickup truck in front of the old Gwinnett County Courthouse in Lawrenceville, Georgia, wearing the Klan's traditional hood and mask.1 Police immediately arrested Miller2 and charged him with violating Georgia's anti-mask law, which prohibits wearing a mask or hood that hides the face so as to conceal the wearer's iden- tity while on public streets or property.3 Pleading not guilty to the charge,4 Miller filed a special demurrer arguing that the statute vi- olated his federal constitutional rights of free speech and associa- tions and that the statute was overbroad.' While the trial court 1 Applebome, Klan Challenges Law Against Hoods, N.Y. Times, Apr. 15, 1990, § 1, Part 1, at 12, col. 4. Id. On Feb. 27, a caller told the Gwinnett County police that a masked Klansman would show up at the old county courthouse in Lawrenceville the next day in violation of the law. Id. Both police and news reporters were waiting when Miller arrived. Langford, Klan Tests Georgia's Anti-Hood Statute, Legal Times, Apr. 9, 1990, at 9. 3 GA. CODE ANN. § 16-11-38(a) (1988). A person is guilty of a misdemeanor when he wears a mask, hood, or device by which any portion of the face is so hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer and is uppn any public way or public property or upon the private property of another without the written permission of the owner or occupier of the property to do so. Id. 4 Langford, supra note 2. 1 State v. Miller, No. 90D-0929-2, slip op. at 1 (State Ct. of Gwinnett County, Ga. May 25, 1990), rev'd, 260 Ga. 669, 398 S.E.2d 547 (1990). The constitutional rights of free speech and association are guaranteed by the first and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution. US. CONsT. amend. I (Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech ... or the right of the people peaceably to assemble ... .); U.S. CoNsr. amend. XIV, § 1 (No state shall make or enforce any law which shall... deprive any person of ... liberty... without due process of law . ). 6 Miller, No. 90D-0929-2, slip op. at 1. See infra notes 250-96 and accompanying text for 819

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most