Miscellaneous

Give Court a Chance

By Anne Skove, Esq.

The DNC is killing us with its Mountain Time timeslot. By the time we listen to all the speeches, analysis, and speculation, it's nearly time for Craig Ferguson -- no point in sleeping now! But these hours are nothing compared to the protester court's hours.

What is protester court? It's spring break court without the wet t-shirt contest. Both are based on the notion that any time there are many people visiting the same town, the possibility of numerous arrests goes up dramatically. Rather than foist these arrestees on already-overworked existing courts, a new schedule is created, with judges and staff assigned temporarily to handle the influx of cases.

Arrestees started filing in around 11:00 p.m. The DNC dockets ran from 2-6 a.m. It wasn't over until the regular judges and court staff arrived at 8:00 a.m.

Charges include giving false information to an officer, disturbing the peace, trespass, panhandling, and supporting Hillary after the expiration date.

What are they protesting? Everything from abortion to the war, and all the issues in-between. For a complete guide, see dnc * disruption 08. The blog contains reports, media coverage, links to local organizations, directions, a sexual assault policy, even a calendar -- so helpful for the well-organized protester on the go!

Will Republicans have a similar system? We can only hope their convention court is equipped to handle corruption, general naughtiness, hypocrites, and other crooks.

See Monday Night First Real Test of Special Protester Court, Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News (August 26, 2008); Two Arrested in DNC Protests, Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News (August 24, 2008); DNC Protesters" We're Being Treated Like Prisoners, Huffington Post (August 25, 2008); Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, and 12 Others Arrested after Leading Sit-In at DNC, MarketWatch (August 26, 2008); DNC Protests Will Be behind Fence, Felisa Cardona, Denver Post (July 2, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on August 27, 2008 (boomark / email).