Last October, ahead of the 2024 presidential race, several Pennsylvania residents with pro-Donald Trump yard signs found threats in their mailboxes.
“Should your candidate win, the consequences will be staggering. … But more importantly, we know where you live, you are in the database. In the dead of a cold winters [sic] night, this year, or next and beyond, there is no knowing what may happen,” one of the letters said, according to documents in a federal voter intimidation lawsuit. “Your property, your family may be impacted, your cat may get shot. And more. … Your vote for this guy is treading on my rights. You tread on me at your peril.”
On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania will hear arguments in the case of two Trump supporters in Eastern Pennsylvania who received such messages. They are in court attempting to compel authorities to investigate who sent them.
Plaintiffs Robert Butwin Jr. and Janet Schmidt are represented by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a watchdog group.
At least 40 known Trump supporters in the state received similar letters, said J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
“Political violence is unacceptable,” Adams told The Daily Signal. “To threaten someone just for having a Trump sign in their yard is significant. This has happened to scores of people.”
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Adams said that the assassination last week of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, shows the danger political violence poses in the United States.
The plaintiffs’ lawsuit contends the letters are illegal voter intimidation and specifically violate both the federal Voting Rights Act and the federal Ku Klux Klan Act, both of which prohibit voter intimidation.
The complaint, filed in May, says the plaintiffs and others the legal foundation is aware of got almost identical letters through the U.S. Postal Service with threats to their property, families, and pets.
The case is Butwin Jr. and Schmidt v. John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, because the source of the threats is unknown. The lawsuit seeks to compel an investigation by state and federal law enforcement agencies and also seeks permission from the court to conduct discovery within those agencies to identify those responsible.
The plaintiffs are also asking the court to permanently bar the defendants they hope to identify from further intimidation and to uphold the rights of citizens to engage in political expression without fear of retribution, according to the legal foundation.
Adams said if the targets had been Democrats, there would likely be arrests by now.
“We’ve asked for law enforcement, the Pennsylvania State Police, and local police, as well as the U.S. Postal inspector to do their job,” Adams said. “We’ve asked if they are doing anything.”
Adams said the federal government will be arguing against allowing discovery.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania declined to comment on the case. The U.S. Postal Service said it was not a party to the case and would not comment further. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police did not respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal for this story.
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