Manhattan Institute Campaigns to Redefine Protest Crimes as “Civil Terrorism”

The Manhattan Institute is leading a year-long campaign to pass state bills that would label minor protest actions—vandalism, road blockage, or trespassing—as “civil terrorism,” treating them as felonies punishable by up to 18 months in prison.

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Founded in 1978 by former CIA director William Casey, the Manhattan Institute helped shape zero-tolerance policing in 1990s New York City and supported the Trump administration’s opposition to DEI programs, providing a policy backdrop for its current protest-focused agenda.

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Legal policy fellow Tal Fortgate, a recent NYU law graduate, authored the “civil terrorism” concept in a February 2025 Wall Street Journal op-ed and a City Journal piece that singled out the Answer anti-war protest network, linking it to advocacy for Venezuela, Iran and China and suggesting possible FARA violations.

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The draft bills would elevate the targeted conduct to felony status, imposing a maximum 18-month prison term.

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The Institute contends that disruptive protest tactics amount to lawlessness that threatens public order and therefore merit a terrorism-based legal response, framing the legislation as a deterrent against left-wing agitators who seek policy change through inconvenience.

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Critics describe the effort as part of a broader “scorched-earth campaign” against leftist organizations, warning that criminalizing low-level protest could suppress legitimate dissent and blur the line between peaceful civil disobedience and violent extremism.

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The article does not identify which states are targeted, nor does it provide sponsor names, public support data, or responses from lawmakers, leaving the legislative outlook unclear.

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• “Today’s left-wing agitators deploy random acts of lawlessness designed to inconvenience and disrupt as many civilians as possible, hoping to pressure them to get the government to change course.” — Tal Fortgate, legal policy fellow, Manhattan Institute

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• “This tactic is reasonably described as a form of terrorism, though the activists aren’t murderous like al-Qaida or Hamas—they don’t use guns, bombs, or threats of unpredictable bloodshed.” — Tal Fortgate, legal policy fellow, Manhattan Institute

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• “central role in organizing an act of civil terrorism and its advocacy on behalf of Venezuela, Iran, and China [which] are reason enough to believe that its actions may be unlawful under statutes like FARA,” — Tal Fortgate, City Journal article

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• “civil terrorism” — term used by Tal Fortgate, Manhattan Institute legal policy fellow

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The campaign aims to influence state legislatures before year-end. Enactment would reshape protest-related law and likely trigger judicial review and public debate over security versus First-Amendment rights.

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