New policy banning Chicago police officers from joining ‘hate’ or ‘extremist’ groups ripe for a legal challenge

December 1, 2023

A commission of Mayor Brandon Johnson (D-Chicago) recently approved a ban on Chicago cops joining “hate” or “extremist” groups — but that ban is ripe for a First Amendment challenge, reports Chicago City Wire (CCW).

Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, told CCW that the ban:

“Implicate(s) public employees’ First Amendment rights to speech and association. Officers may (and likely will) challenge the policy as a whole on that basis or may challenge specific identification of one group or another as a bias group.”

The ban was approved two weeks ago by Johnson’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.

While the commission hasn’t yet released a list of “hate” or “extremist” groups, CCW reports there is a concern that the commission has a “reliance on organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League for identifying hate groups.”

Critics, including Parker Thayer of the Capital Research Center, argue that these organizations have a history of labeling conservative activism as hate speech. This is a clear indication of the bias in how these groups are identified and categorized, often aligning with a left-leaning agenda rather than an objective standard.