4 January 2025

The Nationalist Social Club is a neo-Nazi organization that formed in New England to harass and terrorize non-white, non-hetero people. In December 2023, the attorney general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed a civil rights lawsuit against the group's leaders - Christopher Hood and Liam McNeil.

Hood and McNeil are trying to get the case dismissed, but it's not going very well.

Lawyers representing these neo-Nazis argue that the case is improper and that the attorney general is targeting Hood and McNeil only because they're neo-Nazis.

William Gens and Patrick Daubert representing Hood and McNeil respectively argue that Suffolk County is an invalid venue to file the case. They said that the defendants definitely did stuff in Suffolk County, but they also harassed people all over the Commonwealth. The government lawyer's response was to effectively laugh at this argument as completely invalid.

Gens and Daubert then argue that attorney general is just picking on Hood and McNeil because they're Nazis. They claim that the attorney general doesn't go after pro-Palestine protesters and climate change activists similarly.

The main difference between climate activists blocking a road to protest about their issue is that they're not targeting specific groups of people to harass. They're blocking the road for everyone. And as the defendant's own lawyers admit, those protesters ended up with criminal charges, some of them got felonies. But these Nazis are targeting drag shows and specific groups of people to harass and prevent them from realizing their full rights as people.

Here's the Commonwealth complaint against the Nationalist Social Club

The Commonwealth alleges in its complaint that, over the last several years, Defendants have planned and carried out a campaign of violent and discriminatory conduct that violated state civil rights laws, and created a continuing threat to public peace and safety.' Defendant Nationalist Social Club (hereafter " N S C or the "Club") is an unincorporated association with approximately 30 active members in Massachusetts. Defendants Hood and \McNeil hold leadership positions in the Club and, in that capacity, direct and control its activities ni the state. Since 2020, Defendants have periodically conducted vigilante "patrols" in Boston, and other cities and towns across Massachusetts, during which they have attempted to claim public streets and neighborhoods as the Club's "territory." Defendants have also repeatedly targeted, and attempted to "disrupt and shut down," public events and activities that they deem undesirable, including because of the race, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity of the people involved. For example, during 2022 and 2023, Defendants attempted to shut down a series of Drag Queen Story Hour events organized by LGBTQ+ groups in Jamaica Plain, the Boston Seaport, Fall River, and Taunton; and targeted hotels in Kingston, Woburn, and Marlborough that were providing shelter to recent immigrants through the Commonwealth's Emergency Housing Assistance program." During patrols and targeted Club actions, Defendants have assaulted members of the public, instigated, and attempted to instigate, street fights; vandalized (or "tagged") and trespassed upon public and private property, unlawfully and discriminatorily interfered with access to, and disrupted the operation of, public accommodations#; and engaged ni other violent, threatening, intimidating, and coercive conduct that interfered with the exercise of rights secured by state and federal law.

Documents

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Nationalist Social Club (NSC-131), Christopher Hood, and Liam McNeil