Word: ruckus
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...demonstration involving as few as three people and one act of violence endangering property or other people. According to some scholars, anyone who crosses a state line intending to join a demonstration that becomes violent now runs the risk of Government prosecution, even though others incite the ruckus. As critics see it, the law might deter even orderly expressions of grievances-and is unnecessary, since every state already has numerous laws for punishing incitement or disorderly conduct...
...against it, underscoring the view of many legal scholars that its blunderbuss language was constitutionally questionable and might pose a threat to legitimate political activity. One major concern: a jury might infer that the organizers of a peaceful demonstration had riotous intentions even if hecklers or militants started a ruckus. After the convention, Clark refused to invoke the new law despite Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's contention that itinerant "terrorists" had caused the tumult...