Opinion ID: 1059424
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the cross burning statute

Text: Code § 18.2-423, the cross burning statute, provides that: It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons, to burn, or cause to be burned, a cross on the property of another, a highway or other public place. Any person who shall violate any provision of this section shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony. Any such burning of a cross shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to intimidate a person or group of persons. Black [1] contends that the cross burning statute is unconstitutional because it engages in viewpoint and content discrimination and it fails to incorporate the standards articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 89 S.Ct. 1827, 23 L.Ed.2d 430 (1969), concerning incitement to, and likelihood of, imminent lawless action. Additionally, Black contends that the provision of the statute permitting an inference of intent to intimidate from the mere act of burning a cross, which excuses the Commonwealth from its proof requirement for the establishment of a prima facie case, further aggravates viewpoint and content discrimination and violates the limitations prescribed in Brandenburg. The geometric configuration of a single vertical bar traversed by a single shorter horizontal bar has no unusual inherent properties. But its symbolic meaning is powerful. For Christians, the symbol of the cross evokes remembrance of the crucifixion of Christ. Unfortunately, such powerful symbols are often subject to misappropriation. As recognized by Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion in Capitol Square Review and Advisory Bd. v. Pinette, 515 U.S. 753, 770-71, 115 S.Ct. 2440, 132 L.Ed.2d 650 (1995), the burning of a cross has acquired a specific meaning: There is little doubt that the Klan's main objective is to establish a racist white government in the United States. In Klan ceremony, the cross is a symbol of white supremacy and a tool for the intimidation and harassment of racial minorities, Catholics, Jews, Communists, and any other groups hated by the Klan. The cross is associated with the Klan not because of religious worship, but because of the Klan's practice of cross burning.... The Klan simply has appropriated one of the most sacred of religious symbols as a symbol of hate. In 1952, in direct response to Ku Klux Klan activities in Virginia, [2] including incidents of cross burning, the General Assembly enacted the predecessor statute to the law at issue in these cases. [3] The cross burning statute was amended on several occasions, including an amendment expanding the sites where cross burning may not take place, and the addition of the inference of intent to intimidate from the mere act of burning a cross for the purposes of establishing a prima facie case under the statute. [4]