Terry v. O'Connor

The ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, National Law Center for Economic Justice, and Herbert Smith Freehills filed a lawsuit on behalf of several plaintiffs.

The ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation and Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic filed on behalf of the same plaintiffs challenging the Oklahoma Riot Statute’s definition of “riot” as unconstitutionally overbroad and vague. The State has relied on this definition to criminalize racial justice protesters criticizing the police. Most recently, Oklahoma expanded the scope of criminalized conduct under the Riot Statute with HB 1674, which creates additional riot-related crimes, grants legal immunity to drivers who hurt or kill pedestrians while in the process of “fleeing” from a riot, and imposes fines of up to $50,000 on groups or organizations deemed conspirators with those violating state laws regulating riots and unlawful assemblies.