Protesters interrupt Supreme Court on anniversary of Citizens United decision
Updated: Protesters interrupted the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, the anniversary of the court’s Citizens United decision finding that corporations have a First Amendment right to expressly support political candidates.
The first person to interrupt denounced Citizens United, report Reuters and Twitter posts by BuzzFeed News legal editor Chris Geidner.
“As police were taking that person out of the chamber after wrestling the demonstrator to the ground,” Reuters says, “another protester started shouting ‘one person one vote’ amid the clamor of chairs being knocked over.”
Another protester shouted “We are the 99 percent,” Geidner said on Twitter.
Geidner says seven people were removed. “There would be pictures or video of the protest in most other public buildings,” Geidner points out, but “the Supreme Court includes neither.”
A group called 99Rise later took credit for the disruption and urged followers to “stand with the Supreme Court 7,” the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. A leader of the group was arrested last February for a similar outburst. An undercover video recorded the earlier protest, the NLJ notes.
Seven people arrested in today’s incident were later charged under a federal law that bars making “a harangue or oration” in the court building, a court spokeswoman told the NLJ. Those seven and an eighth person were also charged with conspiracy related offenses.
Updated at 1:35 p.m. to include coverage by the National Law Journal, and at 2:35 p.m. to include updated NLJ coverage.
