Equal Opportunity Repression

A disturbing by-story to the State of the Union was the arrest of Cindy Sheehan.

Sheehan had spent the afternoon at an antiwar protest, wearing a T-shirt carrying the number of US dead, and asking 'How many more?.'

To attend the speech, at the invitation of California Congresswoman Woolsey, Sheehan wore a jacket that covered the shirt. Sitting quietly in her seat, before the speech, she sought to remove the warm jacket, only to be grabbed by Capitol police, arrested, handcuffed, and taken from the building.

Today we get news that Sheehan wasn't the only one wearing a T-shirt.

Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Florida chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee was removed from the gallery because she was wearing a T-shirt that read, "Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom."

She was sitting about six rows from first lady Laura Bush and asked to leave. She argued with police in the hallway outside the House chamber.

"They said I was protesting," she told the St. Petersburg Times. "I said, "Read my shirt, it is not a protest.' They said, 'We consider that a protest.' I said, 'Then you are an idiot.'"

One's first reaction, after years of the Bush administration, might be satisfaction that Cindy Sheehan wasn't being ejected just for the content of her message. (Though the report on Mrs. Young's experience fails to note anything about being grabbed, handcuffed, or rushed down stairs.) These days, a lack of a double standard does seem refreshing.

But the truly scary part of this story is that freedom of speech is being repressed, no matter the message. The Capitol police have lost perspective on their mission, and the law. Our favorite legal-eagle blogger Glenn Greenwald brings us some details:

In Bynum v. U.S. Capitol Police Bd. (Dist. D.C. 1997) (.pdf), the District Court found the regulations applying 140 U.S.C. § 193 -- the section of the U.S. code restricting activities inside the Capitol -- to be unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. Bynum involved a Reverend who was threatened with arrest by Capitol Police while leading a small group in prayer inside the Capitol. The Capitol Police issued that threat on the ground that the praying constituted a "demonstration."

That action was taken pursuant to the U.S. Code, in which Congress decreed as follows: "It shall be unlawful for any person or group of persons wilfully and knowingly . . . to parade, demonstrate or picket within any Capitol Building." 140 U.S.C. § 193(f)(b)(7).

As the Bynum court explained: "Believing that the Capitol Police needed guidance in determining what behavior constitutes a 'demonstration,' the United States Capitol Police Board issued a regulation that interprets 'demonstration activity,'" and that regulation specifically provides that it "does not include merely wearing Tee shirts, buttons or other similar articles of apparel that convey a message. Traffic Regulations for the Capitol Grounds, § 158"

That the police were removing these two women from the gallery, moments before the President's speech, makes a mockery of all the pretty words about defending freedom and democracy. Sadly, I'm not holding my breath waiting for condemnation from the White House, or an apology from the Capitol police.