Victory for Free Speech: Bush Admin. Case Against Greenpeace Dismissed

On April 12, 2002, two Greenpeace members boarded a ship about 6 miles from Miami, Florida. The ship was transporting illegal mahogany from the Brazilian Amazon. The protestors from Greenpeace were detained before they could unfurl a banner saying, “President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging."

The protestors spent the weekend in custody and two months later were sentenced to time served for boarding the ship without permission.

That should have been the end of that.

But 15 months later, Ashcroft’s Justice Department indicted Greenpeace itself, seeking to revoke Greenpeace’s tax-exempt status and force Greenpeace to report its activities to the government.

The indicted offense was “sailor-mongering,” from an 1872 law against boarding a ship to solicit sailors for brothels. The law hadn’t been used since 1890.

It’s dubious in terms of free speech for the government to bring out a law which hasn’t been used in over a hundred years to prosecute an organization which engages in protest.

Fortunately, on May 19, 2004, Judge Adalberto Jordan dismissed the case on a technicality.

The law says the ship must be “about to arrive” and Judge Jordan decided that 6 miles away isn’t close enough to shore for a ship to be “about to arrive.”

Greenpeace issued a statement on the dismissal:

"America's tradition of free speech won a victory today but our liberties are still not safe," said Greenpeace Executive Director John Passacantando. "The Bush administration and its allies seem bent on stifling our tradition of civil protest."

Read More at MOVELEFT.COM
http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_05_23_victory_for_free_speech_bush_greenpeace_sailor.asp

That story was really disturbing. It's good to know that there's still a vestige of justice left in this country.

Yes, at least the judge interpreted the statute fairly.

The First Amendment implications weren't ruled on, but would have been awful.

I wrote about this story for my website because I felt like adding some good news to it.

MOVELEFT.COM
http://moveleft.com

I'm pissed off as hell that the Senate Democrats are going to let Bush continue to pack the courts with his wacko judges.

He's already gained control of several of the Circuit Courts.

Thanks, I was wondering about that.

Is there one website which shows who appointed each federal judge?