The Charlottesville, Virginia, civil trial of a group of white nationalist extremists was not broadcast on television the federal judge assigned to the case forbade anyone from even recording audio of the proceedings. Members of the public who wanted to follow along had to dial in to an occasionally glitchy conference line, day after day, over four weeks, for what often amounted to a bizarre auditory spectacle.

This was especially true when extremism experts brought to testify for the plaintiffs were cross-examined by the same kind of extremists theyve studied.

It was a surrealistic experience, Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, an acclaimed Holocaust scholar and a history professor at Emory University, told HuffPost on Wednesday after appearing on the witness stand earlier this month.

Lipstadt has spent years advising members of Congress on matters of anti-Semitism and hate speech. In September, President Joe Biden nominated her to a new, ambassador-level position, as special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. (Her confirmation is currently stalled in the Senate.)

She was also approached by the Charlottesville plaintiffs team to weigh in on the Unite the Right rally at the center of their civil lawsuit. Dr. Peter Simi, a sociology professor at Chapman University who studies extremism, likewise gave his professional take on the rally and the planning that went into it. Each submitted a report on the rally that was discussed at trial.

Over two days in August 2017, hundreds of people descended on Charlottesville ostensibly to protest a proposal to remove a Confederate monument there. The vast majority were white men. They brought torches and marched in formation across part of the University of Virginias campus until they squared off against a group of counterprotesters gathered around a statue of the schools founder, chanting threats and yelling obscenities. The following days events devolved into a gruesome scene of violence when a young white man plowed his car into another group of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens of people.

The suits nine plaintiffs scored a major victory on Tuesday when, after about three weeks of witness testimony and three days of deliberation, a jury found the defendants participating in the case liable for more than $24 million in punitive damages and about $2 million in compensatory damages hefty sums that they have vowed to fight.

On the stand, Lipstadt read aloud some of the planning messages sent by the events organizers. She testified that she was taken aback by the level of anti-Semitism and the adulation for Nazi Germany evident in the discussions.

On one hand, I could feel like I was in the classroom, teaching about anti-Semitism and teaching about its connection to white supremacy, Lipstadt told HuffPost about her experience as an expert witness. This was a call to arms. This was a call to violence. If you read their statements, its just overwhelming.

She was also ready to confront the defendants.

I was deeply disappointed that Richard Spencer didnt cross-examine me, she said.

Spencer, a white nationalist credited with coining the term alt-right, was one of two defendants who represented himself at trial after failing to hire an attorney. The other was Christopher Cantwell, a racist podcaster currently serving prison time for extortion.