A judge ordered the state of Tennessee to pay a white supremacist group $46,370.30 to cover the legal fees it accrued while suing them over an “unconstitutional security fee.”
The New Century Foundation is a white supremacist think tank that produces the publication American Renaissance. Since 2011, the group has hosted its annual conference in Tennessee’s state parks. In November 2018, the group sued Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation after the department included a provision that allowed the state to keep 10% of the group’s deposit to pay law enforcement needed to secure the controversial event which was slated for May 2019.
The group argued that it should not be required to pay for the damage caused by counterprotesters, calling the provision an “unconstitutional security fee” that “permits a hostile mob to damage property in order to impose a speech-tax” against the New Century Foundation. A judge ordered an injunction against the contractual provision, siding with the group’s First Amendment right to free speech.
The group requested that the state be ordered to pay $56,000 to cover the legal fees accumulated while they were fighting the provision in court. Judge Aleta Trauger ruled on Tuesday that the state must pay a large portion of the legal fees on behalf of the New Century Foundation, but only granted the group nearly $10,000 less than it requested.
Tennessee offered the group a new contract that omitted the security fee provision. The group has not yet filed to host their event in the state’s parks in 2020.
