Sheehan SOTU Snafu Highlights Lack of Style
Tuesday night, shortly before the President was to deliver his State of the Union address, the Capitol Police swiftly ejected Cindy Sheehan from the House chamber for wearing a t-shirt that stated "2,245 Dead. How many more?" Naturally, the message referred to the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Now she vows to file a lawsuit based upon the First Amendment.
Sheehan doesn't have much of a First Amendment case. Although this woman may have a hard time understanding legal matters, since she keeps violating the law by engaging in illegal protests, all free speech is subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. The police here did not discriminate against Sheehan based upon the viewpoint of her speech, but rather sought to enforce a neutral policy against t-shirts with messages on government property (later determined to be a good faith erroneous application of the policy).
We know that Sheehan was not targeted on the basis of the content of her speech because Beverly Young, the wife of Republican Congressman Bill Young (FL), wore a shirt that read "Support the Troops" and she was ejected as well ("Shame, shame" the Congressman said, admonishing the police). This didn't stop Rep. Pete Stark (D) from introducing a resolution directing the sergeant-at-arms to investigate and report back concerning Sheehan's removal, declaring: "President Bush regularly requires his audiences to be screened and sanitized before he will appear before them. But this is supposed to be the people's House. The president should not be able to override our governance and make us part of his Gestapo regime."
The level of partisanship in Congress has led to crazy conspiracy theories and terribly tired references to the Nazi regime. I cannot imagine that Bush's team cares what people wear to his speeches. Will everyone please give it a rest?
Here's the latest indication of Sheehan's detachment from reality or logic, as reported by USA Today:
She might have a 14th Amendment Due Process as a result of the arbitrary administration of a statute, but her damages are nominal. In the end, Sheehan might want to think about sending a large check to the national police for giving her far more publicity than she would have received if the police had just left her alone. Her quote telling police "you are an idiot" received 752 hits on Google news. The Libertarian Party would love to receive that many stories in a month. A Google News search for "libertarian party" turned up 236 hits, versus 10,200 for the Republican Party or 16,300 for the Democratic Party.
The real scandal is that these two women were wearing t-shirts to the State of the Union address. One might excuse Sheehan, the professional protestor, for wearing a t-shirt. She's supposed to maintain solidarity with the counter-culture left. But what is a Congressman's wife doing wearing anything less than than semi-formal attire to the SOTU, seated as she was within earshot of the First Lady? Shame, shame indeed. Ladies, have some respect.
Sheehan doesn't have much of a First Amendment case. Although this woman may have a hard time understanding legal matters, since she keeps violating the law by engaging in illegal protests, all free speech is subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. The police here did not discriminate against Sheehan based upon the viewpoint of her speech, but rather sought to enforce a neutral policy against t-shirts with messages on government property (later determined to be a good faith erroneous application of the policy).
We know that Sheehan was not targeted on the basis of the content of her speech because Beverly Young, the wife of Republican Congressman Bill Young (FL), wore a shirt that read "Support the Troops" and she was ejected as well ("Shame, shame" the Congressman said, admonishing the police). This didn't stop Rep. Pete Stark (D) from introducing a resolution directing the sergeant-at-arms to investigate and report back concerning Sheehan's removal, declaring: "President Bush regularly requires his audiences to be screened and sanitized before he will appear before them. But this is supposed to be the people's House. The president should not be able to override our governance and make us part of his Gestapo regime."
The level of partisanship in Congress has led to crazy conspiracy theories and terribly tired references to the Nazi regime. I cannot imagine that Bush's team cares what people wear to his speeches. Will everyone please give it a rest?
Here's the latest indication of Sheehan's detachment from reality or logic, as reported by USA Today:
"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.'"Sheehan is likely the only person in America who believes that the message on her shirt was not intended as a protest.
She might have a 14th Amendment Due Process as a result of the arbitrary administration of a statute, but her damages are nominal. In the end, Sheehan might want to think about sending a large check to the national police for giving her far more publicity than she would have received if the police had just left her alone. Her quote telling police "you are an idiot" received 752 hits on Google news. The Libertarian Party would love to receive that many stories in a month. A Google News search for "libertarian party" turned up 236 hits, versus 10,200 for the Republican Party or 16,300 for the Democratic Party.
The real scandal is that these two women were wearing t-shirts to the State of the Union address. One might excuse Sheehan, the professional protestor, for wearing a t-shirt. She's supposed to maintain solidarity with the counter-culture left. But what is a Congressman's wife doing wearing anything less than than semi-formal attire to the SOTU, seated as she was within earshot of the First Lady? Shame, shame indeed. Ladies, have some respect.
posted by The Libertarian Republican at 11:24 PM
4 Comments:
There's actually not a policy forbidding political t-shirts in the capitol. You can't protest, but so long as you don't demonstrate its fine to wear one. (Bynum v. U.S. Capitol Police Bd. (Dist. D.C. 1997) "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, ยง 158")
The Capitol Police Chief apologized today and admitted the cops screwed up.
Adam-- "There's actually not a policy forbidding political t-shirts in the capitol."
True, but that doesn't mean Sheehan has a 1st Amendment case (not that you're saying that). She might have a token due process violation. Litigating it, as Sheehan as vowed, would be a waste of everyone's time particularly since the police said it was a mistake and Sheehan was actually better off as a result of being pulled out.
Wilson-- I agree, the cops should not have thrown her out... and she got a whole lot more press than she otherwise would have if she had remained.
The fact still remains that individuals, not breaking the law, where and have been before removed from a public event in a public building based on their political views. And that gentlemen, is not democracy, that is a police state.
Flame Thrower-- living up to your name, I see. We're not a police state, and if Sheehan had actually been protesting more than the wearing of her shirt, she could have been thrown out, rightfully. I say it again: she gets more press than the Libertarian Party.
Here's some perspective.... Reporters Without Borders reported the worst countries for press freedom in 2005:
153 Zimbabwe
154 Saudi Arabia
155 Laos
156 Uzbekistan
157 Iraq
158 Vietnam
159 China
160 Nepal
161 Cuba
162 Libya
163 Burma
164 Iran
165 Turkmenistan
166 Eritrea
167 North Korea
"The United States (44th) fell more than 20 places, mainly because of the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and legal moves undermining the privacy of journalistic sources."
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