From Imani Gandy & Jessica Pieklo at Rewire News Group:
Jessica Pieklo: Like Imani said, it targets Trump, Giuliani (who in my circles we call him a paisan of shame, we don’t claim him), the Oath Keepers, and the Proud Boys, and said that they incited a riot designed to prevent Representative Thompson and others from carrying out their constitutional duty in certifying the election.
So this is a really super targeted lawsuit. And it’s so sexy.
Imani Gandy: It’s so sexy, and it’s literally the reason that the KKK Act was passed. Right? Because white folks, listen, you all tend to get a little bit buckwild sometimes. Not all of you (hashtag not all white people) but you all have been pulling a lot of nonsense related to elections since slavery and the reconstruction, including violence and intimidation.
Like straight up. “Oh, Black guy, you want to vote? How about I hang you from a tree instead and send that as a message to your family?” This is serious, serious stuff, while white folks have picnics under the hanging bodies of Black folks.
Jessica Pieklo: “Let’s play some badminton while that’s going on.”
Imani Gandy: Right, exactly. “A little croquet never hurt anyone.” So this is a bear.
I’m very excited about this lawsuit.
I’m particularly excited about the fact that it’s a civil lawsuit and not a criminal lawsuit. So that means the burden of proof for the claims is lower. In the criminal lawsuit, you’ve got go beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil lawsuit, it’s just preponderance of the evidence, which just basically means a little bit more than a majority.
Jessica Pieklo: More likely than not.
Imani Gandy: More likely than not. Where beyond a reasonable doubt is like: you got to be like 99.9% sure. Preponderance of the evidence, 51% is fine.
Oh, and it gets even better than that.