St Louis's top prosecutor sues city, citing law used to fight the KKK

Kimberly Gardner, first African American circuit court attorney in St Louis, accuses city and police union of conspiring to remove her from office

Kenya Evelyn
@LiveFromKenya
Wed 15 Jan 2020 17.16 GMT
Last modified on Wed 15 Jan 2020 20.48 GMT

A top prosecutor has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of St Louis and its police union citing a nearly 150-year-old law used to combat the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group.

Top US prosecutors are coming to the defense of Kimberly Gardner, whose suit aims to combat what she calls a “broad campaign of collusive [mis]conduct” to remove her from office. Some officers within the St Louis police department are also speaking out in support.

Gardner is the first African American circuit court attorney in St Louis history, part of a 2016 nationwide wave of elected prosecutors who ran progressive platforms promoting criminal justice reform and police accountability.

The Ku Klux Klan Act, passed by Congress in 1871, allows the federal government to aggressively pursue vigilante hate groups, including the KKK, that invoked racial terror in communities of color throughout the US, particularly in the south. In the suit, Gardner argues the law applies to institutions as well.

“(It) was adopted to address precisely this scenario: a racially-motivated conspiracy to deny the civil rights of racial minorities by obstructing a government official’s efforts to ensure equal justice under law for all,” the complaint states. “The stakes are high. This case cries out for federal enforcement.”

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