Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen were arrested in an FBI sting a few weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Sting operations targeting white extremists are much less common, and tend to result in lower punishments for defendants. There was a lot of discussion over their use of Facebook, where the defendants regularly posted anti-Muslim and pro-Trump memes and fake news stories. Judge Melgren said a Facebook like amounted to a “very mild statement” and told the government they would need to seek permission each time they wanted to introduce a Facebook like as evidence. Judge Melgren wasn’t buying that argument.

Source: Huffington Post March 20, 2018 15:33 UTC