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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWoman faces a year in prison after laughing at Jeff Sessions
Link to tweet
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a notorious racist. He prosecuted a former aide to Martin Luther King, Jr. after the former aide helped black voters cast ballots. He once claimed that immigrants create cultural problems. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted in 1986 to deny him a federal judgeship due to concerns that he is racist. At the time, Coretta Scott King wrote a letter opposing his nomination, arguing that Sessions could have a devastating effect on her husbands goals of advancing racial equality.
So, when Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) claimed at Sessions most recent confirmation hearing that Sessions record of treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented, Desiree A. Fairooz, a spectator who says she attended the hearing in silent protest, let out a chuckle.
For this chuckle, she was arrested, dragged out of the hearing by Capitol police, and eventually convicted of disorderly conduct and parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds. She could receive up to a year in prison.
Fairooz claims that the laugh that led to her arrest was spontaneous and not a premeditated effort to disrupt the hearing.
As a constitutional matter, Congress does have the lawful authority to prevent its business from being disrupted. The First Amendment permits certain time, place, and manner restrictions on speech, and that can include the power to remove a protester who prevents the government from conducting its business. Fairooz didnt help her case by loudly protesting her arrest while it was happening.
more...
https://thinkprogress.org/woman-faces-a-year-in-prison-after-laughing-at-jeff-sessions-8ce8ff1f9ed1
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Woman faces a year in prison after laughing at Jeff Sessions (Original Post)
yuiyoshida
May 2017
OP
elleng
(131,202 posts)1. Is It a Crime to Laugh at a Congressional Hearing? A Jury Decided. edited
bobGandolf
(871 posts)2. What a flamer! Can give, but not take... n/t
Response to yuiyoshida (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
dhill926
(16,373 posts)5. uh huh...nice try...
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)7. What if a speaker at a Senate hearing actually made a joke?
Or meant to say the word "shirt" but accidentally left out the "r"?
Who decides when and if a laugh is appropriate?
And if it's inappropriate, why not just take the offender out of the room/building and not let him/her back inside?
Does the punishment fit the "crime"?
ADX
(1,622 posts)4. It makes my blood boil...
...to know that a woman can be arrested, charged and convicted of disorderly conduct merely for laughing during Sessions' confirmation hearing but a congressman can scream "Liar!" at President Obama during a televised address before a joint session of Congress and get away with it scot-free.
Solly Mack
(90,792 posts)6. Fuck Jefferson Beauregard - It's sedition if you laugh at me - Sessions