Trumps clemency spree wiped the slate clean for violent actors, including those who bashed Capitol police during theinsurrection.
Pardoned seditionists are already flexing in public.
Criminal sanction, however, is not the end-all, be-all of accountability.
Trump supporters battling police during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
In the wake of the deadly Unite the Right rally inCharlottesvillein 2017, there were few arrests and prosecutions.
(Though its still in the millions, that award has beensignificantly reduced.)
The trial was chronicled in the HBO documentaryNo Accident.
Rolling Stone:What did you make of Trumpspardonspree?
Mike Bloch:It is disheartening.
This blanket support for extremists will only add fuel to the fire.
RS:There had been some talk about how these pardons were going to be case-by-case.
Along with 1,500 others.
This was the full monty version.
Cop bashers and all.
Ben White:Id had some hope that there would be individuation.
And Trump even pardoned those.
RS:Some of these guys had terrorism enhancements on their sentences.
You already see jubilant responses on Telegram and other social channels.
Tarrios handle now calls himself Chairman Elect.
Hes talking with Alex Jones, talking about helping Trump lock in changes that will last100 years.
The message there is not subtle.
Private causes of action given this current administration will be equally important as a front line of resistance.
BW:Civil litigation does have a deterrent effect.
RS:Lets take the cop bashers, who are now free on the streets.
Is there an opportunity to go after them in civil court?
BW:That it will depend first and foremost on statute-of-limitations concerns.
But given the breadth of their misconduct, there are lots of available avenues.
In fact, it can be just the opposite.
RS:Can we talk about big-dollar judgments in civil cases?
The Charlottesville judgment was initially $25 million.
MB:The Charlottesville case itself has been on appeal.
As far as Im aware, collections efforts have not started in earnest because its still in litigation.
It certainly is a challenge collecting particularly from individuals and groups who dont have much money to begin with.
But the deterrent effect can be compelling.
And the process itself can be a huge deterrent.
Rather, they also care deeply about violence.
And that violence is a tactic of white supremacist groups.
I think that should be a focus going forward.
Or are you thinking more prospectively?
That lesson is particularly apt here, especially in connection with the recent pardon activity.
It was the Trump election that led to Charlottesville, that wave of litigation.
And now we feel like were back in the same boat.
Its going to be another, unfortunately, target-rich environment.
Our hope is to be on the front line of the new wave of resistance.
But I think people will be as equally motivated to push back.
These [pardoned] individuals were not vindicated.
This is Trumps last term in office.
