MacDonald: A Few Thoughts On The Concord PD (Pronoun Department) And The AG’s Civil Rights 'Itch'

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office has been desperately trying to scratch an itch it can’t quite seem to reach — a high-profile case it could use, at least in my estimation, to leverage civil rights law to suppress protected speech.

Create a hate speech exception, tied to state civil rights law, and let the Orwellian pall of silence pervade across the land.

It hasn’t gone well.

A 2023 case against White Supremacists that was clearly a massive overstep and unconstitutional actually got slapped down by a New Hampshire judge.

Earlier this year, the AG’s office attempted to apply RSA 354-B:1 Civil Rights Enforcement after someone removed and allegedly destroyed a Pride sign in Goffestown. Last week, an NH Court agreed, and while I disagree with the civil rights finding, the accused was not exercising speech; he was engaged in vandalism, which, at the time, I suggested would set a precedent they might not want.

I think you could charge 56-year-old Frank Hobbs Jr. with theft or destruction of private property, but then you might have to do that for everyone, and there are many “sign thieves” in New Hampshire. Is that why the AG has gone with the civil rights offense? We wouldn’t want the state to set any prosecutorial precedent concerning sign vandals who do their best work around election time.

So what’s Next?

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