Opinion ID: 703968
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Facial Validity Issue

Text: 41 Contrary to the defendants' assertion, the Supreme Court's R.A.V. decision did not preclude any and all regulation of cross burning. See R.A.V., 505 U.S. at 395-96, 112 S.Ct. at 2550. The Supreme Court's subsequent decision in Wisconsin v. Mitchell, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 2194, 124 L.Ed.2d 436 (1993), clearly limited the impact of R.A.V. on statutes, like the ones at issue here, which are aimed at conduct as opposed to expression. In Mitchell, the Supreme Court upheld a Wisconsin statute that permitted penalty enhancement for racially motivated crimes. In doing so, the Supreme Court recognized that a statute aimed at constitutionally unprotected conduct may single out a particular motive, including racial animus, for punishment without offending the First Amendment. Id. at ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2200-01. The statutes under which the defendants were prosecuted also target unprotected conduct--willful interference with housing rights, conspiracy, and the use of fire. So although Sec. 3631 specifically prohibits intimidation based on race, because such intimidation itself is unprotected conduct, under Mitchell the statute is not facially invalid.