Anti Semitism Conversation on Yom HaShoah

In 1982, Kevin Lipson co-founded the Jewish Advocacy Center (JAC) to bring a new weapon to the fight against antisemitic violence. Inspired by the success of the SPLC in bankrupting the KKK, the JAC began a program of bringing civil damage lawsuits against the perpetrators of anti- Jewish violence. The goal was to hit the bad actors with real financial consequences for their actions. 

In 1984, they sought to invoke federal civil rights laws enacted after the civil war as a basis for claims against criminals that desecrated a synagogue in Silver Spring, MD. The approach was very controversial at the time. Many established Jewish organizations vocally opposed their efforts. 

J.A.C. took their case to the US Supreme Court, where they won a unanimous judgment that established, for the first time, the applicability of federal civil rights laws to Jews. The case of Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb is a seminal case in constitutional law and guarantees that the civil rights of Jews cannot be violated without ramifications.