Appeals court reinstates Insane Clown Posse's lawsuit against the FBI

The members of Insane Clown Posse.
(Image credit: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)

It looks like Insane Clown Posse and a handful of Juggalos will have their day in court after all.

On Thursday, a U.S. appeals court in Ohio resuscitated a lawsuit that the hip hop duo and four of their fans brought against the Department of Justice and FBI, Reuters reports. In 2011, the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center released a report that identified Juggalos — Insane Clown Posse super fans who sport clown face makeup and rally around a logo of a hatchet man — as a "hybrid gang." Insane Clown Posse and the Juggalos (who are one million strong, according to ICP) say their constitutional rights have been violated because of this label, with court documents showing the four Juggalos claim they were stopped, detained, and questioned by local law enforcement in 2012 and 2013 and denied opportunities with the Army because of their Insane Clown Posse tattoos. Insane Clown Posse maintains that a 2012 performance was canceled because of the gang designation.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.