One of the four indictments against former president Donald Trump cites the violation of an 1870 law that is aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of American citizens.
Section 241 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code was originally adopted in the United States as part of the Enforcement Act of 1870, designed to protect the rights guaranteed under the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. These amendments, collectively called Reconstruction Amendments, prohibited states from disenfranchising voters on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Members of the extremist group Ku Klux Klan aimed to prevent Black Americans from exercising their right to vote, serve on juries, and run for public office. Section 241 sought to prosecute Ku Klux Klan members for such activities.
According to Section 241, “if two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same,” such individuals shall be punished by law.
In the indictment (pdf), Mr. Trump has been charged with violation of Section 241 for engaging in “a conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.”
Violators of Section 241 can be fined and/or imprisoned for up to 10 years. In case the violation results in sexual abuse, kidnapping, or death, the accused can also be sentenced to life imprisonment or death.
Charges against Mr. Trump could potentially focus on the former president’s alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election—an action that could be argued as having threatened the lawful votes which American voters had cast in favor of Joe Biden.
Such actions by Mr. Trump could be construed as having infringed on the voting rights of U.S. citizens, thus violating Section 241 in the process.
Mr. Trump may also be charged with death and kidnapping under Section 241. During the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, one person had died—Ashli Babbitt who was shot by a law enforcement officer.
