Is laughter prosecution against Sessions protester a dangerous precedent?
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions/Gage Skidmore
Updated: Three protesters at Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing to become U.S. attorney general have been convicted for disrupting Congress, including a woman who was arrested when she laughed at the assertion that he had an extensive record of treating all Americans equally under the law.
Jurors on Wednesday convicted the laughing woman, Code Pink activist Desiree Fairooz, the New York Times reports. Also convicted were two protesters who had dressed up like Ku Klux Klan members and pretended to support the now-former senator from Alabama.
Justice Department lawyer David Stier asserted in closing arguments Tuesday that loud bursts of laughter alone would support the prosecution of Fairooz, the Huffington Post reports.
But there were other actions supporting Fairooz’s prosecution, prosecutors had argued. As she was being escorted from the hearing, she became loud and disruptive, they said in court papers.
Fairooz’s lawyer countered that the laughter was “totally spontaneous” and “unintentional.”
Fairooz, who attended the hearing in a pink Lady Liberty outfit, was convicted of disorderly conduct and demonstrating on Capitol grounds, the Times reports. The two others were convicted of the demonstrating charge.
Among those criticizing Fairooz’s prosecution is James Bovard, a journalist who says he was ousted from the Supreme Court press box in March 1995 after a “boisterous laugh” during oral arguments. He was told he was being transferred to a rear alcove because of a dress code violation. He was wearing a dress shirt, but no coat and tie, as required for members of the press.
Bovard wasn’t prosecuted for laughing, but he has concerns about Fairooz’s case, he writes in a Washington Post op-ed.
“While my ejection, and Fairooz’s case, may seem funny, it’s actually a dangerous precedent to permit the Justice Department to prosecute people who laugh during official proceedings,” Bovard writes. “Will applause and raucous cheering be the only legally permitted noises that citizens can make while listening to politicians? Should we imitate repressive governments, such as Thailand’s, and make a criminal offense of lese majeste—insulting the ruler?”
Updated on May 4 to report that the protesters were convicted.
