Appeals court dismisses ‘Juggalo’ lawsuit fighting gang designation

A Cincinnati-based federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit Monday that fans of the hip-hop group Insane Clown Posse brought against the Department of Justice for labeling them a “loosely-organized hybrid gang.”

Known as “Juggalos,” the fans argued the gang designation in the FBI’s 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, said it agreed with the district court that the gang designation was not reviewable because it was not a final agency action. 

Juggalos made national headlines in September when they marched in Washington, D.C., in an effort to clear their name.

Fans have reported being fired from their jobs, stopped and detained by police and losing custody battles for being Juggalos, wearing band merchandise or having the band’s trademark “hatchet man” tattoo, a silhouette of a man wielding an axe.

Because federal, state and local law enforcement officials are relying on the 2011 report to target gang members, six fans claimed in the lawsuit that Juggalos are being discouraged from associating with each other or publicly expressing their identity because it makes them a target for law enforcement.

But the court said an “agency action must be one by which rights or obligations have been determined, or from which legal consequences will flow.”

Because law enforcement aren’t required to rely on the report, the court said it’s not an agency action.  

“Repercussions from the dissemination of information designed to provide an industry with up-to-date safety recommendations do not convert a report into a reviewable rule or sanction,” Judge Alice Batchelder wrote.

Juggalos haven’t been listed on the biannual report, now called the National Gang Report, since 2011. The 2013 and 2015 reports on the FBI’s website make no mention of Juggalos or ICP fans. The report for 2017 has yet to be released.