Attacks on our right to protest have escalated to new heights, as the justice system is being wielded in unparalleled ways in the war against free speech. On Monday, April 15, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case of Mckesson v. Doe, a lower court decision that gravely jeopardizes the right to protest in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Under this decision, “a protest organizer faces potentially ruinous financial consequences if a single attendee at a mass protest commits an illegal act.”
By the time the Washington State Patrol officers dropped her off in the parking lot of the Motel 6 in Sea-Tac on the afternoon of Jan. 18, Monsieree had been sitting in the patrol car for at least two hours, hands shackled behind her body, as the officers drove her up and down I-5, fruitlessly trying to find a jail within King County limits that would accept her despite current COVID-19 booking protocols. Monsieree and at least 11 others had been arrested a few hours earlier, just under the Yesler Overpass on I-5 near downtown Seattle. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the group had been carrying out a peaceful protest action centered around painting a Black Lives Matter mural and the names of Black people who lost their lives in police encounters on both the roadway itself and the wall beneath the overpass respectively. This action also briefly shut down the highway.
One of the frequent targets of President Donald Trump’s ire lately has been the cryptic “Section 230.” Last month, Trump threatened to veto the entire budget for the nation’s military forces if Congress didn’t include a repeal of Section 230 in the bill. This week’s “long read” is a deep dive into Section 230, its origins, and the ongoing controversies it begets that extend far beyond Trump’s personal vendetta.
Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA 9th Congressional District, including South Seattle), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, answered questions from journalists at a press conference on Tuesday about President Trump’s call to utilize the U.S. military to intervene to stop the “insurrection” of demonstrators protesting the murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers. According to Trump, states have been weak in handling demonstrators and he said he would call in the military if states don’t bring order to their cities soon. Many legal experts and communities are concerned about the constitutionality of Trump’s proposal to use the military in a domestic situation.
