Legal Challenges and Arrests Surrounding 'Cop City' Protests in Atlanta

Lawyers representing an activist arrested while protesting against the building of “Cop City” in Georgia have launched a legal challenge to the use of a state domestic terrorism statute against protests, claiming an “act of free speech” is being unconstitutionally targeted. The legal challenge argues that “attempting by word or expressive action to alter, change, or coerce government policy is a quintessential act of free speech,” and that the protest against Cop City was constitutionally protected. The move comes amid the unprecedented arrests of organizers at a bail and legal defense fund that has helped some of the people arrested while protesting against the multimillion-dollar police and fire department training center planned for a forest south-east of Atlanta.